


Sponsi Sanguinis Est

by OerbaIzalith



Series: Seize the Night Chronicles [3]
Category: Penny Dreadful (TV)
Genre: AU, Curses, F/M, Illuminati, M/M, Parental Issues, Plenty of video game inspiration, Sequel, Valhalla
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-06-02 02:13:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 33,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6546307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OerbaIzalith/pseuds/OerbaIzalith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not only one, but two new threats rise and the Ives sisters must face the darkness within themselves or succumb to it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Een Koue Nag (Prologue)

**Author's Note:**

> I've received an enormously positive response to my first fic in the series and I'm happy to return to it and give you more! Written with love for my two biggest fans, you know who you are xxx

Upon the arctic waters, far ahead, shrouded in misty wind, something flickered before the entity who had adopted the name 'John Clare', a name that hadn't been uttered for years, at least not by anyone he could hear, except himself. Sometimes, in the years that had passed since he left London behind, he would utter his own name as a comfort, as stimulation to his ears, which hadn't heard another human voice speak in nearly a decade.

He didn't feel the cold, though he knew the temperature was below freezing, far below what a human could survive. Yet John wasn't human, he hadn't been for a very long time. He’d walked the earth alone for the longest time, until he’d resigned himself to the ship on which he now sailed, alone. He had become used to the fact that he would never find a kindred soul, that he would always be the child outside in the snow, looking in through the window at the happy family, warm and unified beside the fire. He spared a thought for Miss Ives, a shining flicker of hope that had just as quickly been lost as soon as it was discovered; rejecting him. Yet how could she not, it was his curse.

The dim rays of the sun barely breached the thick gray clouds above, snowflakes twirling in the harsh blizzard through which he sailed, beating against his equally cold skin. He could barely see where the flicker was coming from.

Suddenly and with a large jolt, the ship crashed against something solid and came to a halt. Moments later, the bow had already begun to tilt forward as water spouted into the wrecked vessel below. John was left with no alternative than to abandon ship, taking nothing with him except the clothes on his back, which was all that he’d had with him to begin with. He stepped down onto the snow, his feet bare, ignoring the faint flicker in the distance.

He stood by and watched as his ship, all that he’d known for the longest time, his home, perish and disappear beneath the icy water, lost to him forever. The tears came, crystalizing on his eyelashes the moment they were released. What manner of God could forsake him so utterly to the harsh wilderness of the southern-most reaches of this accursed planet? The wind howled and he wrapped his arms tightly around himself to ward it off, despite not feeling its merciless bite.

The flicker caught his attention once more as he turned around, uncertain of where to go. The moment he took a step toward it, as if controlled by some hidden hand that swiped it away, the blizzard died down, stray flakes of snow drifting lazily in the air, making their slow descent. The clouds above grew several shades lighter, yet, most curious, the world grew darker, as dark as a moonlit night. The snowy wasteland surrounded John, as he clumsily traversed it, leaving deep footprints in the snow. He saw the flicker in the distance growing brighter, a small circle of light guiding his way. The snow formed small dunes before him, much like a frigid desert, hindering his path to the warm glow.

John hardly noticed when the overcast sky pulled open its arms to reveal a starry night, thousands of winking dots scattered across a deep, blue blanket. His singular goal was the light, he found he was now drawn to it like a moth to flame, and soon understood why. It was a candle. A single, lone white candle sitting in its holder, burning brightly, the large flame licking at the air around it and illuminating the small dune it sat propped up against.

As John approached, the flame jumped as if to beckon him closer, and as he kneeled, it turned blue and whispered to him, a thousand whispers all cascading together in unison, nearly unintelligible. He couldn't make out the words exactly, but he imagined it spoke of a century child, of fire and rain, wind and the earth, a savior. Of a new world. Then the voices ceased and one arose from the silence, an authoritative, compelling voice, as deep as the roar of the ocean. It spoke clearly and curtly.

"Come hither, brave undead."

John obeyed, following the voice past the candle, not noticing as it snuffed itself out as he left it behind. He followed for what seemed like hours, and his feet grew weary. One last dune, he thought or perhaps something else thought for him, just one more. He obeyed, and as soon as he reached the top of the snowed over hill, he saw it.

A castle, small by acre but standing tall, loomed before him. It's arches and pillars were festooned in layers of white, black balustrades decorated the terraces and jutting rooftops pointed high into the sky, unnaturally so, giving it a menacing air. Braziers alight with the same blue flame that had spoken to John lined the walls and sat atop the pillars, whispering curiously, urging him to enter the large, enclosed door that led inside the imposing structure.

Once more, he obeyed. The door opened all on its own as he drew close, and a wind suddenly picked up from behind, pushing him forward. He let it take him with it, gasping as the door slammed shut behind him, the darkness inside enveloping him.

A deathly, all-encompassing silence gripped his senses and the dark threatened to suffocate him. As if sensing his discomfort, it stirred and spoke.

"Brave undead. Thou hadst journeyed far."

As the words died in his mind, for they had not come from moving lips, there was light. Braziers on the walls lit up and cast a red, ominous glow on the hall in which John stood. He stepped back in fright at the sudden brightness and something crunched beneath his heel. He looked down and lifted his foot from where he had trampled on a human skull, catching sight of the rest of the remains strewn on either sides.

"Cast thine eyes hither." The imperious voice commanded, and John obeyed once more. He found his obedience to be a willing act, not out of fear or subordination did he look forward to meet the sight of the one who demanded his attention, but merely because he wished it. Was he indoctrinated, compelled? If he was, it had happened so subtly and seamlessly that he hadn't noticed. Then why was he thinking about it? Why did he feel so terrible for thinking it?

"Thy fear is misplaced, my undead. I wish thee no harm."

He felt the pull, moved forward, his attention and his body fixed toward the enormous throne that dominated the vast space in front of him, the carpet that led toward it littered with the bones of the long since dead, skulls forever frozen in toothy screams. But John hardly noticed them. He saw only the Lord of the castle, sitting atop the throne, long, clawed fingers curled over the round tips of the armrests. He was wrapped in shadow, only his hands and eyes were visible in the blackness of his lofty perch. And what eyes they were, two shining shapes like silvery red rubies fixed on John, piercing through the apathy he had so long felt like a poison deep within.

John felt warmth, life, course through his veins. He was in the company of one not unlike him, very much dead yet more alive than the living. His kindred soul. His Lord. He had finally found an equal, one that longed to embrace him and call him friend. He felt the creature's malevolence, yet he felt no fear, only love, acceptance, and above all there was want. Want for him.

"Brave undead, I have waited an eternity for one such as thee."


	2. Onaantasbaar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grace period is over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to the Night.

(*See song suggestions to accompany selected narratives)

(*Song suggestion: Out of my hands - Dave Matthews Band)

"Check mate." Mina declared and slumped back in her chair, her lips curving up in a triumphant smile. She and John sat alone in the throne room, the fire in the hearth and the levitating candles casting them in a warm orange glow. The throne stood empty. A silent agreement, as a show of respect and love toward the woman who once sat upon it, had kept the throne untouched for nearly seven months.

"You are becoming quite proficient at chess, young Miss Ives." John applauded her. "Fancy another game?"

"Please John, Mina. You're our guest, not our butler. And I wouldn’t mind another go, but then you're gonna have to stop losing on purpose. It's no fun winning when the game is rigged."

"My apologies. I shall try my best to accommodate your competitive spirit." He packed the pieces back onto the board and arranged them.

Despite the cosmetic surgery he had undergone years ago, John just couldn't seem to shake his shy nature. It was part of him, something that no amount of physical beauty bestowed upon him could ever erase. He would always be the one that broke eye contact first, to look down when meeting new people, to speak ever so softly and show a quiet reverence for the strangers he passed on the street.

Mina Ives, his gracious hostess, reminded him so much of her mother, though their relationship remained unconventional. Vanessa had made the ultimate sacrifice; her life for her daughters. While Amy and Alice, their original last names he’d never learned, had not been Vanessa's daughters by blood, they had ultimately been revived by the same spell and forever bound to the soul of the Witch Queen.

"Maybe you should start this time. I'll take black." She tossed her long blond hair back over her bare shoulder, her blue dress molded to her breasts gave John pause. She was breathtaking. Once upon a time, she might have become the object of his obsession, had he not known her so intimately and had she not been the daughter of the first woman to see past his unfortunate visage.

He turned his attention back to the chess board and continued placing the pieces.

"What was she like?"

"Pardon?"

"My mother, what was she like? You two were close, right?"

He saw no reason to not be direct.

"I loved her, very much. I cannot imagine how any person, even one as bitter and twisted as I, could not love her."

"Then please, fill in the blanks for me. I knew her in a past life, but she was different this time. What was she like with you?"

He articulated his words for a moment, careful to not do Vanessa's memory injustice.

"She was a goddess. Her every action, movement, her smile and the words she spoke, transcended the hearts of men. She was prophesied to be the mother of evil, yes?"

Mina nodded silently, a thought deep within her mind nagging at her. What did that mean for her? She was the daughter of a woman meant to usher in a new age of darkness. Did that mean she was inherently evil, or that she would become evil somewhere in the distant future, events shaping her into a creature so far from what she was now that nothing would be left of the woman that once was? She shivered at the possibility.

"Yet how could she be? When all I ever knew was a pure, gentle soul. A woman so kind, so celestial, it caused me pain to be around her for long. I felt undeserving, to say the very least."

A tear formed in Mina's eye but she wiped it away before it fell, smiling sadly at the gentleman who was always smartly dressed, his black suit and white tie in perfect contrast and his eyes fixed on her for once, as shiny as the crown of his shaved head.

"Thank you, John." She whispered, holding her hand out to him and felt it enveloped in his cold grasp.

"You are very welcome, Miss Ives."

She laughed, once again reminding him of her name. "It's Mina."

"I'll work on that, Miss Ives."

\---

(*SS: Miss Murder -AFI)

"BANG!" Amy shouted as she pointed the Glock .43 pistol at Alice and giggled.

"I hope for your sake that gun isn't loaded or you'll wake up tomorrow morning with a head as bare as John's." Alice said, not looking up from where she was loading the AR-03 assault rifle with shells.

"Not my hair!" She grabbed at her red bangs, pulling them closer to her face and jumped behind Ethan. "Save me, Pops!"

Ethan smirked, loading his .357 Magnum with blanks, the chamber clicking as it closed. He wiped over his brow, combing calloused fingers through his slicked back, undercut hair. He aimed at the pin-up target down the aisle and placed his shot where it mattered, right in the red circle between the cardboard ears.

"Owwwwie, that's really loud!" Came another shout from Amy.

"Put on the earmuffs, darlin', it's what they're there for." He petted Amy on the head and she took the fuzzy headgear from his hand. "Do you really have to use live ammo?" He asked Alice.

"You trying to compensate for something with that revolver, Ethan? Like that shitty schoolboy hairstyle perhaps?" Alice mocked, dark brown hair pulled in a long ponytail behind her back. She loved taking the piss out of the 'man of the house'.

"Says the girl with the assault rifle." He returned her banter in kind. "One bullet is all I need to put 'em down."

Alice curled her upper lip, contorting her features into a growl and fired 20 rounds - a full clip - into the practice target in her aisle, riddling it with holes. She stood back with the barrel over her shoulder and a smug smile playing on her lips. "Who needs one bullet? I say tear the fucker apart, better chance of not missing." Ethan eyed the american girl with just a hint of japanese in her features. 

"I never miss." It sounded almost like a challenge to her as he fired another round straight into the bull’s eye. Amy exclaimed, pressing the muffs tight against her ears.

"Guess we'll need a moving target to test that theory of yours. Care to volunteer, Amy?"

"Huh?" The redhead with the australian accent removed the muffs, raising her eyebrows in confusion.

"Live ammo, live target, what do ya say?" Alice aimed at her and she stuck out her tongue in response, jumping back behind Ethan as Alice made a forward jerk as if she was preparing to fire.

"Play nice, girls." Ethan tried mediating as he so often did.

"What are we, four year olds?" Alice rolled her eyes at his attempt at playing dad.

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Ethan shook his head and turned back to the practice target, raising his gun.

"You're such a dick." Alice turned back to where the full clips lay and picked one up.

"Aw sweetheart, I like you too."

She tried her best but ultimately couldn't suppress a smile as she reloaded.

\---

(*SS: Internal Landscapes - Anathema)

Mina wrapped her arms tighter around the Great White Wolf's neck as it ran through the primordial fire, the flicker that separates life from death, if such crude words, used by a young naïve doctor an age ago to describe it, could be used to summarize what it represented. Using an ancient, intricate spell contained within the box left to her by her mother, Mina had not only managed to reverse the witch Hecate's curse on her father, leaving him able to shift between his human and lupine form at will, but also found something decidedly dangerous but especially intriguing. 

For weeks, she had traversed a place she wasn't meant to, that no living being was meant to. It was her secret, she knew she had to find what she was looking for, but she couldn't risk Amy and Alice following her in fear that if something went wrong, they'd all be lost and nobody could save them, Ethan wouldn't come to the rescue even though he'd try. He was, after all, not a witch and he'd never find his way through the eternal twilight. She used the Demimonde as a safety cord, the breadcrumbs to follow back home if she were to get lost, every single nightly journey a painstakingly slow exercise in trial and error. She tripped in the dark time and time again, jolting back into the safety of the dining room, the central base of otherworldly operations in the physical manifestation of the Demimonde she called home. But finally, after countless times of nearly giving up on ever succeeding, she found it. The primordial fire, and what lay just beyond it.

She had never imagined that Valhalla existed. What she knew of it were bits of knowledge passed down from several sources, mostly claiming it was the Norse version of heaven, where the gods Thor, Loki and their kin resided. The Valhalla she discovered after traversing boundless time and space for what seemed like years, was vastly different than that which the tales made it out to be. It was a city, massive in size, frozen in time, unmoving, uninhabited and surrounded by a silent ocean of glittering water. Towers knotted together like symbols of unity and spiraled into the ashen sky at such a height that the tips weren't within range of the naked eye to behold. In the middle of one of these knots sat a large empty sphere, ever turning; the only moving object in the city.

As striking as the city was, Mina had gone there to find something specific, which she knew could not be far off. She had felt it the moment she stepped into Valhalla, like a heart beating in utter silence.

She had shared what she found the moment she returned, and it did cause tension between her and her new family, in part due to their concern over her risking her life and in equal part for her deceit, no matter how good her intentions were. Yet, they moved past it, neither Alice nor Amy particularly wishing to spend weeks of searching for a dead city with "nothing to see but skyscraping towers" and a stupid tree. That had offended her somewhat, when they called the tree stupid.

Ethan wished to see it, he understood its importance, and to Mina's great surprise, she found it even easier finding Valhalla on the back of the enchanted wolf. Perhaps remnants of the curse still stirred within him, lubricating the transition between worlds or acting as a magnet of sorts, she didn't care to delve deeper into the mystery. What mattered was they now trod through fire, a fire that didn't destroy, but created. It was life, as was the tree. The moment they entered Valhalla through the fire, they stepped onto the beach encircling the city, following it, strafing around the large buildings until they saw the path, leading out into the ocean, a small sandy footpath to a very small island, one large enough only to accommodate the tree.

She dismounted from the wolf's back and approached the tree, and moments later heard the low ripping sound as Ethan tore through the wolf skin and shed it from his body. She didn't turn around until she was sure her father had dressed himself in the clothes they had brought along in the knapsack that now lay wrapped within bloody fur.

"Isn't it beautiful, daddy? Can you hear it singing?"

He came up next to her and marveled at the Tree of Life, listening to the chorus of countless melodic whispers surrounding it. "I hear it."

Like the towers in the city interior, it stood at such an incredible height that its upper reaches couldn't be seen. Every large branch, stretching out for what he guessed was more than a mile each, sported hundreds of thousands of green leaves, each representing a new life to give. Some of these leaves fell and rose back up as they neared the ground below, disappearing back into the dense growth. Those that have lived and would live once more.

"Yggdrasil." Mina revered, kneeling before it, and Ethan followed suit. A feeling washed over him that he had only ever felt once before. It was the same joy and fulfillment he had felt the moment his daughter was born. He understood, without a word, what Mina had meant when she spoke of this tree. It truly was life itself.

\---

Amy stepped out of the bathtub and sighed loudly, stretching her arms out wide. She reached for her towel on the railing, feeling incredibly rejuvenated. It was amazing what just a little pinch of moonlight resin could do to one bathtub filled with water, and bubbles of course, she couldn't do without her bubbles in the tub!

She wrapped her hair in the towel and rubbed, smiling like a cat that got into the pantry as she did so. She slid her tiny feet into her slippers, and decided against tying her hair before bed. She rarely wore it loose, it made her feel old and she enjoyed making the most of her youthful appearance. She wondered for how long she would be frozen in her present physical age, her appearance that of a high school girl. No, she decided, no earlier than her 30th year would she allow herself to age, if only for a little bit.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud sound from downstairs. She tilted her head and listened.

"Alice?"

Silence.

"Mina? Pops? John?" She called out in succession but no one answered. Instead there was another booming sound from below. She wrapped the towel around herself, covering what was necessary, and made her way out of the bathroom, down the hall and stopped at the top of the stairs.

THUD THUD THUD THUD

The front door rattled as someone hammered against it.

"Who's there?" She called out, scowling at herself for being such a scaredy cat. She was a badass witch-girl. She had shot down a whole bunch of shapeshifter jaguars from a moving motorcycle, but she couldn't handle a knock on the door? Shame on her, shame, shame.

THUD

"Help! Help me! Please let me in! Hurry!" A young woman's voice implored, banging on the door as she cried for help. "Oh god, it's coming!"

Amy ran down the stairs, the good Samaritan in her overcoming her caution and hurried to the door, unlocking it for the distressed lady.

Short, shoulder length black hair was matted round a pale face, dull grey eyes and delicate features gripped in terror, the woman rushed inside and slammed the door behind her, pressing her back tightly against it.

"Oh thank you, thank you! You saved my life!" The woman said once she caught her breath.

"You're welcome but who are you? How did you find this place?" The Demimonde was hidden from human sight and even if a powerful medium or clairvoyant were able to sense it where it stood on an empty patch of land in a quiet street of London, they would not be able to touch it. This led Amy to the conclusion that the frightened woman standing before her was not human at all.

"I'm Lucy. Lucy Westenra." The English woman held out her hand to shake Amy's, but she was met with crossed arms. "I don't know how I got here. I was running, it was chasing me, and I just ended up here." 

"It?"

"I don't know! It was dark, and I couldn't see but it had claws and it was very fast. I was just walking home and it appeared from out of nowhere and began pursuing me. It was terrifying."

"Right... Ok, well it's gone now, so I guess you can go home now, eh?" Amy knew she'd be in trouble if someone came home and found a stranger in their home. The Demimonde was their safety zone, a place where they couldn't be attacked, unless they were careless like that night with Hecate.

"Oh no please! Please don't make me go back out there!" Lucy begged, grabbing Amy's hands and squeezing them tight. "It will find me, don't you understand?"

"I'll go with you?" Amy smiled nervously, unsure of what she was getting herself into.

Lucy, in her fright, managed a little laugh of disbelief. "You hardly look like you would survive any longer than me. You didn't see that thing."

"I'm tougher than I look, you!" Amy disagreed, crossing her arms again. Lucy stumbled forward as if she might faint and only then did Amy see it, a large gash on the side of Lucy's neck was steadily streaming blood down and draining the color from her face, staining her red blouse a deeper crimson.

"I'm gonna be in so much trouble." Amy sighed as she supported the bleeding woman, steering her toward the living room couch.

\---

Stephen Anderson got out of the cab in a busy street on Soho, disgusted by the public transport he had to take in order to indulge his secret pastime. If his father, the late and great Joe Anderson, could see him now, he'd probably soil his grave. He removed his wallet and extracted a £50 note to pay the driver. He didn't have a lower denomination, he almost never did and he despised change.

"This is too much, sir. Your fare comes to 13 quid." The taxi driver protested, thinking the man, guessing him to be in his mid 30's, had made a mistake.

"Don't be a tosser. I don't care if you are some ill-educated oik from a council estate, you'll say thank you like everyone else." Stephen sassed.

"Th...thank you, sir." The driver stammered as if he'd been slapped in the face. "Have a good night sir."

"Yes, shall." He slammed the cab door. He looked down the street. Whores, delinquents, horny businessmen, coked-up twinks, married men like himself coming to Soho to indulge their taste for flesh. He smiled at how lurid it sounded in his mind, how cannibalistic, tasting flesh. He enjoyed licking it, sucking it, fucking it, even occasionally cutting it and watching it bleed. Tonight he was in the mood for a boy, at the very least a man much younger than him. A lost teenager out on the big bad streets, his mummy and daddy worried sick at home, would be most ideal. It might take some coaxing, another £50 note or two to make whoever he chose dance for him and spread their legs, but he was hardly short of cash. Even Chell, home alone or out somewhere on her knees, the parasite riding on the back of his credit cards, couldn't even make a dent in the vast fortune he’d earned for all those years sucking up to his father.

(*SS: Loco Ono (Bassnectar & Stylust Beats Remix) - Bassnectar)

He climbed the steps up to the VIP area of his favorite hunting ground, the bouncer already stepping out of his way as he neared the entrance. Electronic sound waves engulfed him as he stepped inside the raised area, overlooking the dancefloor below from the balcony. He recognized a few faces, but thankfully nobody knew him. He was filthy rich, that was true, but he wasn't from these parts. Only the most obsessive socialite connoiseur or street smart journalist would recognize him, and he preferred it that way, he wasn't looking to make friends or get fauned over by some queer in a dress. He was there to get laid, and the balcony was the perfect perch to spot his prey from.

It took him 20 minutes and 3 cocktails later to find what he was looking for. He wasn't a teen, but he was exceptionally attractive with a boyish appearance. Perhaps 20, slender, dressed in a tight fitting hoodie jacket, with short wavy brown hair cropped close to his shapely head. His lips must belong to his mother while his jaw was definitely his father's, Stephen thought. He was delicious.

As if sensing his eyes on him, the young man looked up from where he was dancing, every sway of his body, every move of his feet served as a seduction. Such grace and sensuality... It seemed almost criminal, he had never seen a man dance like that with such cold confidence. He took a sip of his mojito, nodding at the man and watched as he made his way through the crowd, disappearing from sight below the balcony.

Stephen downed the rest of his drink and turned to meet his catch downstairs, but was met with two blue eyes, as deep as a clear sky, staring intently at him. How did he get up here so fast, he thought? Yet this thought faded almost instantly, replaced by a shock as the man touched him, his hand gliding over Stephen's neck. He was instantly smitten, deeply beholden to this gorgeous creature, those full lips opening against his ear and whispering one word.

"Tasty."

He licked a trail up Stephen's neck, his tongue as cool as his hands, teeth scraping against the sensitive skin and a shiver ran down Stephen's spine like a cascading waterfall. He gasped as the enigmatic man worked his magic on him, and his eyes rolled back in his head. He didn't notice that they were completely alone now, the balcony deserted by everyone except them. Didn't register the words whispered to him as the club music faded from his senses, though he could hear them clearly.

"Your wife sends her regards."

He didn't scream as two sharp fangs breeched his skin, didn't even wince. He smiled, and moaned as he was exsanguinated. And when the last drop of his blood spilled into the beautiful creature's mouth, that smile remained, forever frozen on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to my studies, I will not be updating as often as I did. Please do keep watching this space and thanks for the support. Kudos and comments are why I write.


	3. Okkulte

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The brightest flames cast the darkest shadows

(Song suggestion: The Outsider - A Perfect Circle (Renholder remix))

A bolt of lightning flashed across the overcast night sky, shedding an alien brightness on the dark interior of his hotel room, brighter still than the light coming from the adjacent bathroom. The wind danced playfully with the clear white curtains that framed the sliding doors to the balcony next to his queen-sized bed. He had been staying there for the duration of his London 'visit'. He spared no expense, after all, his line of work was... lucrative, to say the least. So lucrative, in fact, that he could afford a luxury that few vampires could, not that there were any other Highborn vampires beside him and his ultimate target. He shook the thought of his nemesis from his mind and stripped his clothes, tossing them down on the peach-colored carpet.

He slid the glass door open, turned the handle to the shower and stepped into the rain of blood. O Negative. He made a mental note to thank the owner of the hotel, his guest satisfaction policy evidently stretched beyond the norms of society. He wondered if the man knew what he was, or if he even cared. The hot, thick wetness covered his slender physique and ran down his throat as he opened his lips to take it into his mouth. He anointed himself with it, smoothing it over his pale skin and relished in it. He’d earnt it, and he really did enjoy earning it too. 

His contracts were all most deserving of death, and he enjoyed giving it to them. It was clean too, finding the target, seducing them if possible and then making the kill, walking away with a clear conscience. And almost always he got a free meal out of it on top of his hefty fee. Two birds, one stone. He was that stone, wielded by the hands of others. A stone that flew swift and true and deadly.

He heard the leader of the team whispering orders to the dozen or so armed men outside on the balcony long before they entered the room.

Shots rang through the air as the men, mere mortals wearing plain blue uniforms and packing consecrated ammunition, opened fire upon the large bedroom and the bathroom. A minute later, once they had all but destroyed the beautiful Greek Romanian decor and the walls and floors were peppered with holes, the men silently proceeded into the vampire's lair, checking every nook and cranny for the absent predator. They proceeded into the bathroom, the shower head still dripping thick drops of blood when they checked the spot where he clearly had been moments before.

Next to the bed, one of the men aimed his shotgun down to where a tattered piece of clothing lay discarded. He inspected it, poking at it with the nozzle, uncertain if it was moving because of the gust of wind streaming in from the broken sliding doors or if it was somehow alive and breathing.

"That was a nice jacket." The man jerked his head up toward the ceiling where the voice had come from, but it was too late. His throat was slit from ear to ear and he tumbled down with the still nude, blood soaked vampire on top of him.

The rest of the men couldn't react fast enough for what happened next. The discarded shotgun was plunged deep into the mouth of the closest hitman, the back of his head blown clean away, the wide spread of bullets dispatching the man behind him as well. Before the rest of the men could fire a single round, the vampire had retrieved his daggers from beneath the bed. They sang as they whirled through the air, cutting tendons, muscle, flesh, jugular veins, all in the blink of an eye. Five men fell bloodied to the carpet, gasping their dying breaths. The daggers flew through the air and they both pinned the man who had begun shooting at the swift creature to the bathroom wall. Now three remained, and they fired at him in earnest. He moved like a cat, pouncing around on all fours and they missed. His form scattered into a flurry of bats, sending them running for the balcony as the dark wings and sharp fangs descended upon them. They plummeted to their deaths in their clumsy attempts at waving the cloud of small beasts away, the street ten stories below echoed with the screams of pedestrians as bodies broke like porcelain on the sidewalks.

One remained. The leader. The black cloud of wings enveloped him and carried him off into the air, reforming into the shape of the young, nude vampire and launching the defenseless man down onto the rooftop of the building below, the impact of his body creating cracks around him as he spat forth blood and broken teeth. The vampire descended gracefully through the air, gliding down until his feet connected with the cold cement. A slight drizzle coated the bare frame that approached the broken man with a glistening gloss, washing the last bit of caked blood from his torso and face.

"So rude, interrupting my shower. I was just starting to enjoy it." The vampire shook its head in disappointment. "Humans? Honestly. Is that the best he could do? Even with your blessed bullets, did you really think you'd stand a chance against me? Did he?" His Canadian accent was deceptively nonchalant but his words were sharp and angry beneath the surface.

The prostrated man could barely speak, his broken limbs flopping helplessly as he tried rising up to crawl away.

"Don't bother, I think I broke pretty much everything that can be broken." He chuckled briefly and strode casually ever forward until he was standing tall above the whimpering fallen leader, kneeling down and wrapping a cold hand around his throat, lifting his heavy, limp body off the ground with such ease as if he were a feather.

"Tell me something, when he gave you the order to capture me, it was to be alive, wasn't it? He wants the honor of killing me himself, doesn't he?"

The man's eyes grew wider still and he attempted to struggle in vain, sensing his imminent death.

"Thought so."

"P...please, Lord Alucard. Have mercy!" The man managed to beg, his words barely forming on his lips, his tongue rendered useless.

"You know that annoying thing people keep saying, over and over again as if it's supposed to be some sort of anodyne to their broken family relationships? Blood is thicker than water? Want me to let you in on a little secret? Looking at me, what do you see?"

The leader of the defeated team just kept begging for mercy, his words unintelligible in their rush to be heard.

"Water washes blood away." Another bright flash of lightning framed his figure from behind. "Pass that along to him, will you?"

With the smallest hint of pressure, his head popped off in Alucard's grip and the rest of him dropped to the wet concrete.

"On second thought," Alucard continued his one-sided conversation with the severed head, "I'll just do it myself."

\---

"Mina?" Amy asked, worried by her sister's silence and blank expression. Mina blinked and looked at her as if noticing her for the first time.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I asked if you know her. You're looking at her all funny."

Mina recognized the woman lying on the couch in the living room with the nasty wound in her neck, but didn’t know from where. It was like an intense sense of déjà vu that washed over her, a recollection of a memory that wasn't there, merely a ghost passing through her, unseen but felt. It was impossible for her to conclude whether this overwhelming familiarity was authentic or a falsehood.

"I don't... I don't think so. I'm not sure. She looks so familiar, but I have no idea who she is."

"She said her name is Lucy, Lucy Westenra. Ringing any bells for ya?"

The familiarity was fading fast, disappearing as quickly as it had come.

"No, never heard of her." She turned back to Amy, taking her aside by the arm. "You know you aren't supposed to let people in here. She's not mortal, or else she never would have found us. And anything that isn't mortal, is a threat." Her voice was a whisper, but there was a harsh tone to it, an angry authority. She was certainly Vanessa's daughter, Amy thought. "You know she can't stay, Amy. If dad finds out, he'll kill her."

"Pops would see reason? She's hurt, I did what I thought was right. I'm sure he would do the right thing too."

"He would do anything to protect us. You forget, I was inside his mind the night I brought him back from where he was. That part of him, it's never gonna go away. When you're in the hands of evil for that long, it tends to leave its mark."

Amy gulped, trying her best not to remember the Great White Wolf's jaws clamping down around her but failing.

"What are we gonna do then? We can't just throw her out. She was scared, really scared of something. Look at her, sis."

Mina looked back at the motionless woman. The bleeding had stopped at least, and she was still breathing steadily. She wasn't going to die from blood loss, that much was certain. She sighed and made up her mind.

"Fine, we'll cloak her, at least until tomorrow and then we'll give her some food and send her on her way in the morning." Amy agreed to this with a nod, and smiled gratefully.

"But not a word to Alice. If dad doesn't kill her, she will."

\---

Ethan hardly ever slept, not since he had become Hecate's pet and not even when her hold over him was finally broken and his permanent lycanthropy was reversed. He spent most nights out in the countryside in his form of white with the pack of lone omega wolves that had adopted him as their alpha. He had encountered them on his midnight runs, one by one he found them alone in the night, his mind linking to theirs. Some were exiled from their packs, others who had just never felt a sense of belonging and left of their own accord and he knew that despite their choice of solitude, that they were ultimately deeply lonely. And he knew that they knew he was more than just a wolf. The first had approached him where he had stood, and laid down before him as if to swear fealty. Together they ran and found others who too were alone in the wild, with no den to call their own. Since then, they had hunted together, ran aimlessly, playing - all four wolves tackling him, pulling the enormous white wolf to the ground and 'tickling' him, biting at him playfully. With them he found a release, an outlet for that side of him that was far from tame.

As much as he felt the pull of the night, the thrill of the hunt calling to him, some nights he preferred to stay home with his real family. Every so often he would watch a movie, something with guns, a western if possible, or anything with Vin Diesel or Jason Statham in it. He couldn't believe that he had drifted through the 80's without once turning on a television set. TV was far better than anything the Grand Guignol could ever dream up. 

(SS: The Wreck - Delta Spirit)

Memory stirred within him. Vanessa. A stab of sorrow pierced through him. How he missed her. They had gone through so much together, they had lost their daughter twice in one lifetime, lost each other even more times still. Yet it was strange, he felt an odd sort of peace in her absence, a peace so unlike what he had felt all those decades during their long separation. Perhaps it was because now he had his daughter back, and two more to boot, but in his bones he knew that it was more than that. She had never really left. Whenever he was around the girls, her presence was there, comforting him, shining through them like a beacon of hope in an otherwise grim world. Mina, Amy and Alice were her legacy, her gift to him. How could he mourn, having such a precious gift to remind him of her every day?

He sat in the dining room that night, as he so often did, reading the day's newspaper. Sometimes he forgot that he was well over a century old. Dates flashed before his eyes every day, reminding him of the ever ticking clock of time passing by in the blink of an eye. Immortality sometimes weighed heavy on him, made him wonder if he'd be around to see the inevitable end of the world. He could smell it, a persistent faint hint of despair not far away. He cursed his senses for being so sharp, too sharp, unbearably so. He didn't want to be around to suffer the death of his girls, not again. Especially now with Vanessa being gone. He wouldn't survive it.

He wished he could bend the Demimonde to his will like his daughters could, wished he could conjure up a memory of Vanessa to tell him that it'd be alright, that nothing was going to happen. That he and the girls would still be around for a long, long time. Or go back to Valhalla, to Yggdrasil. Such peace he had felt standing before it, a peace so deep he clearly felt its absence now.

As if sensing his distress, the door opened and Mina walked in, the room immediately changing from the plain, perfectly natural dining room into the surface of what he realized was the moon, the distant blue and green planet he called home peeking out from behind a rocky dune. She approached the table, her eyes filled with the knowledge of what he had been thinking a moment before.

"The moon, eh? You taking a jab at your old man?" He managed a laugh, though the experience of being on the moon - however real it was or not- left him more than a little rattled and nervous.

 

"Is it working?" She smiled at him.

"Is what working?"

"Took your mind off of what was bothering you, hasn't it?"

"Oh, hell yes. Can we go back now, please?" He laughed again, and the room shifted, now into a night time woodland. He breathed a sigh of relief, and took in the scents of it. Even if it wasn't real, it sure smelt real. Much better. He felt home, safe.

"Try not to worry so much. You'll drive yourself crazy." She sat down on his lap and threw her arms around him, and he hugged her tightly to him, the smell of the nocturnal forest fading as the scent of her hair filled his nostrils.

"I love you, sweetheart." He whispered and pressed a kiss to the side of her head.

"I love you too, daddy." She in turn, kissed him on the cheek before getting up and returning to the door, peeking back before closing it behind her. "Try to get some sleep."

"After going to Valhalla? Who could sleep after that?"

"It's really something, isn't it? But I could always brew something up for you, to help you sleep?"

"No, really, honey I'm fine. You sleep tight, John and I will keep the midnight oil burning. Maybe I'll go for a run later."

"Kay, well goodnight." She winked and closed the door.

He returned to the newspaper, the forest around him calming his thoughts immensely, but as he turned the pages, an article caught his eye. The foreboding sense of doom rushed back as he read the title.

'THOUSANDS MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEAR OVERNIGHT. HAS LONDON EXPERIENCED THE RAPTURE?'

\---

On a quiet street in Surrey, far from the bustle of London, Alucard stood in front of the 'Sunset', a small shop that stood all alone in what looked more like a large back alley than a street to him. It was locked, of course, so he would need to improvise. That was the fun part.

Two minutes later, a black cat had squeezed through the small crack in the window. It scanned the room for potential threats and movement, but found none. Deeming it safe, the feline grew large in size and stood on its hind legs, its fur reforming into the black hoodie and skinny jeans that covered the pale white skin and the bones as its body realigned. Alucard cracked his neck from side to side and made sure to pick up the twenty discarded claws that now lay on the ground before him. Leave no evidence of his visit, that was rule number one.

The shop was as cramped inside as it looked to be from the outside, the floor and the many shelves that covered the walls were littered with books, trinkets, herbs, incense and all other manner of witchy essentials and propaganda but it was just a front, he knew, for the darker secrets it held behind its walls. He cleared his mind and focused on the object he sought. It drew him forward, towards the back of the shop. He closed his eyes and his hands reached out and unsheathed his daggers, letting them pierce the solid veil of the occult wall, which allowed him passage. 

He opened his eyes again when he reached the other side, finding himself in a dimly lit room not much larger but highly organized in comparison to the shop. Intricately designed flasks and large jars containing things he didn't bother inspecting stood neatly packed on top of a single shelf against the left wall and in the middle of the floor stood a bookshelf containing dozens of ancient tomes. The wall on the right was adorned with a large onyx shrine that had two thick black candles resting on both edges. The upper surface was decorated with talismans crafted from animal bones and crow skulls, and the carcass of a newborn lamb lay with a large athame plunged into its side, a sigil painted with its own blood on the white fleece of its forehead.

Alucard raised an eyebrow and shook his head, sighing at the grotesque display and turned to the large metal cabinet that stood at the back of the room next to a crackling bonfire on the floor. It was there he would find what he was looking for. The best locks often kept the best secrets. Picking it would be a bitch, and he was tempted to break it, but that would mean he'd leave the environment disturbed, and that in turn would mean that he was an amateur. He took pride in being the best at what he did, and that meant not getting caught, before, during or after an operation.

He failed miserably a moment later when he found he was suddenly unable to move. Entropy washed over his body and with the exception of his face he couldn't even move a muscle. Footsteps shuffled behind him accompanied by a periodic knock on the floor, coming toward him.

"Dead things should not play in a necromancer's sanctuary." The Bokor wheezed in a cracked voice and spun him around to face her without lifting a finger. She was incredibly old, hunched over and leaning on a wooden cane with one hand and holding a lantern in the other, her face -a mass of wrinkled flesh- the only thing not covered in dark brown rags. Alucard estimated her to be well over a hundred years of mortal age.

"Foolish, foolish boy. What cause have you to intrude upon me and mine?" Her teeth were yellowed in the light of the bonfire and he could smell her stale breath from where he remained frozen in her invisible grasp.

"Ah, you seek that which you do not have, do you? Could it be anything other? It gravitates toward you as you do to it. Yeeeeees, I hear it, within that vengeful heart of yours, hope lingers still like an ember clinging to air. But 'ware, foolish young dead thing, for that which you seek carries a cost not easily paid."

"Of course it does. Why do you think I was trying to steal it?" He answered nonchalantly.

"Your tongue is quick, such bravery from one so imperiled. Do you not know that I could pull you apart with but a whisper?" She hissed, and he felt his limbs straining as if trying to tear themselves from his body. "Ripping the wings from a fly would present a greater challenge."

"What are you waiting for then?" He groaned in response despite the pain she was inflicting upon him. She eyed him thoughtfully, her lips quivering in amusement at his witty attitude.

"I would propose a more beneficial arrangement, if you should allow me the chance." She lifted the lantern higher illuminating dull white eyes in its glow and he realized in that moment she was nearly completely blind.

"I'm not going anywhere, lady. So propose away."

"I shall give you your heart's desire, and offer my aid in your quest for vengeance, if you would grant me mine."

"Why on this god-forsaken earth would the great and powerful Erisabith need my help?"

"Ah, for I am master of the dark, my lovely. Yet the dark may only stretch so far and no further. I hold no sway over that which has no soul. Be they breathing or well rotten."

"You're telling me that I have a soul?" Of all the bullshit he had ever heard, this was by far the hardest to swallow.

"Indeed. As marred by apathy and twisted by hatred as it may be." She cackled in the back of her throat, a peculiar, unpleasant sound. "Yet those are the souls I find most intriguing and malleable. Those that have been tinged by darkness are especially susceptible to its workings. But I ask your cooperation of your own free will, if you would. What say you?"

He considered her offer briefly, weighed the worth of what he needed against the probability that she was about to send him on an impossible mission, and finally saw no other option than to take it. She had something he would do anything to obtain.

"Name it."

\---

(SS: XIX - Slipknot)

At approximately 2am, Amy's eyes fluttered open, yet she did not truly wake. She was in her bed, her thin white nightgown pressed tightly around her petite body. She threw the blankets off and got up out of bed. The cupboard mirror beside her cracked, the roses she had picked in the dining room the previous morning wilted on her bedside table and the glass of water that stood next to them froze over instantaneously. The large double windows blew open and a gust of icy wind swept over her, but she couldn't feel it.

In a trance, she walked to the open window, the wind like a talon wrapped around her pulled her closer and closer. She stepped up onto the windowsill, closed her eyes and sighed her bliss as she willingly walked into the dark arms of the unknown.


	4. Dryfsand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things are inevitable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick reminder. This is an alternate universe fic from Season 2, which means everything post Season 2 is disregarded, including the canon version of Dracula and others. Sorry if that bugs you.

"Good morning, beautiful." Ethan sat next to Amy on her bed, smiling in that peculiar way, a hidden pain behind his eyes that he tried unsuccessfully to hide. Thankfully, he didn't have to, her eyes barely fluttered open.

"Hmmmm? What time is it?" She raised her arm to shield her eyes, despite the curtains remaining closed.

"Time to get up, c'mon. You already missed breakfast."

"I feel yuck."

"You ain't gonna feel any better 'til you get something in your stomach. I made quesadillas, your favorite."

"I'm not hungry, Pops. I just wanna sleep."

This was unlike her. In the brief few months since she had been in his life, Ethan had never seen her sleep in late, or feel 'yuck'. His parental instinct kicked him.

"You okay? Did something happen? You're always the first to be up and about, now you're Dozy the bear? What is this?" He tickled her through the blanket she lay under, hoping to lighten her mood and wake her up. She didn't even giggle, just squirmed, somewhat annoyed and turned away.

"I'm fine, Pops. I just wanna sleep." She pulled the blanket up over her shoulders and hugged it close to her.

Memory flashed through Ethan's mind. Innocent eyes looking up in terror, tears running down her face. A piercing scream, then silence. This memory haunted him more than it had a right to, though he welcomed its torment every time. His vision blurred as tears pooled in his eyes. She sensed this and turned back to face him, confused.

"Pops? You okay?"

"Yeah." He fought back the tears but a single warm drop managed to escape.

"Are you crying?" She became alert and hoisted herself up on her elbows.

"No, of course not, don't be silly. Smoked a cigar downstairs and I guess the smoke is making my eyes burn a little."

"Okay." She had never seen him smoke a cigar before, but she wasn't about to push him to confess whatever it was that had him down. He would talk about it in his own time, if ever. He noticed something then and it brought him out of his slump. He reached for her neck but she pulled away before he could touch it.

"What happened there?"

"I scratched myself doing a spell I think. It's nothing."

"Sweetheart, those are punctures, not scratches."

"It's nothing Pops, I promise. I'm just fine. Tired, that's all."

Ethan didn't believe her, but before he could ask her anything else, Alice practically barged into the room, clearly more annoyed than concerned over Amy's strange behavior.

"What in the fuck is this about? That time of the month?"

"I'm up, I'm up! Just give me a minute." Amy sprang up as if her bed had been set on fire, and Ethan cleared out of the room along with Alice.

"Works every time. Didn't even have to ask her to get up." Alice grinned as they walked back downstairs.

"Did I miss something? I've never seen her move that fast."

"Little tip for ya, if she pulls that shit again, just give her a wet willy."

Ethan choked on his own spit. "A... what?!"

"Oh oops, forgot you're like two thousand years old. You just stick your..." She paused and turned to him, smiling slyly. "Ya know what, why don't you Google it. Make my day."

"Why don't I Google a wet willy... Why would I want to stare at a wet penis?"

Alice burst out laughing as she made her way down the stairs.

\---

She stepped back in time, leaving the unconscious woman behind in the physical Demimonde. She needed to know more about this 'Lucy', with whom she felt somehow familiar, yet could not place her. It bothered her immensely. Ethan remained oblivious to her presence in their home, the cloaking spell holding well. Mina had retired for the afternoon and asked not to be disturbed for a few hours. She had no idea how long the journey through her past might take, but she hoped to discover her ties to the mystery woman before the spell that hid her from sight wore off.

She walked, back to before she came to the coven, back to when her life was ordinarily mundane. She went all the way back to when she was a child of 8. A Sunday night in late summer, somewhere in South Africa, her mother had brought her along to a gathering of sorts. She stood outside the house, hearing the adult voices within, but when she tried approaching the house, she felt an intangible force holding her at bay, preventing her from entering.

There were children around her, more or less the same age as her and they were playing, running about and laughing. One of the boys grabbed her by the hand and she was swept along in the run. She couldn't remember this. So much of her past was shrouded now, the trio of memories of her different lives jumbled up and dream-like. The only clear memories she had, that seemed real, were the ones of after she met her true mother.

It was easy to get lost here, Vanessa had warned her, lost in memory. A horrible way to disappear into oneself, forever ghosting the past and becoming one of those restless spirits that dwell endlessly in the places where they became lost, often becoming disgruntled and restless, harming the living beings that dared cross their paths.

She took care not to get too attached to her surroundings, though it felt incredible to be so young again, her innocence and unbridled joy bubbling inside of her. She ran with the other children, laughing along and playing tag and hide-and-seek, but keeping her wits about her. Something about this place held meaning, a hint to the woman's identity.

The fun and games were interrupted when the boy next to her screamed and pointed at the garden wall behind them. She looked back and saw the shadows. Large, bony claws extending upward, growing larger and stretching higher, as if to reach toward them. It wanted to grab them, tear them apart. Her breath caught in her throat as the shadowy fingers pointed down and then...

A woman called from the house, and the boy ran, leaving her behind. She dared to look away to where the figure of the woman stood on the porch, calling her name - Monica. When she looked back, expecting the claws to be at her throat, she was relieved that they were gone, the wall rid of the shadowy presence. Her legs carried her then, swift and clumsily, toward the woman waiting for her. She ran into her arms, and immediately caught whiff of a familiar scent. She looked up into those piercing eyes.

"Daar is jy." Lucy whispered and smiled.

\---

He put pen to paper, as he did once a week, every week ever since Vanessa had gone. Being immortal, John felt her loss more deeply and fiercely than he could word. He was still in mourning and probably would be for years, and writing her a letter each week seemed to ease that burden, one tiny bit at a time, allowing himself the illusion that somewhere, on the higher plain where he believed she now rested, she could read every word.

The letters varied from a short few words to 20 page epics. Often he wrote poems to her, better to express himself and his emotions. Today, his letter consisted of only a prediction. A prediction of something wicked headed their way. He folded the letter neatly and put it in his shirt pocket to be placed in the box with the rest of them.

The cafe, where he and she had sat on that final day before she sacrificed herself to bring back her daughters, had become sort of a sanctuary to him. He felt closer to her there, more at ease with everything, including his unending life.

He still couldn't quite get used to the fact that women often stared at him, not in disgust or horror, but curiousity and sometimes even desire. All he had wanted since he had been born again in his unaging vessel, was the attentions and affections of a lady, yet now that he had eyes on him, he felt that he no longer desired them. All he wanted now was to be left in peace, to be invisible to the world.

Ethan entered the cafe, spotting him sitting by his lonesome, and approached the table, removing his coat. The weather outside was nippy, as Autumn made its annual rounds through London. John had given some of his clothes to Ethan when he regained his human form, the girls taking him on a shopping spree a few days later. As much as he had adored his new attire, Ethan just could never seem to move on from John's coat. John felt an alien sense of pride at this.

"You found it, good." John smiled as Ethan took a seat across from him.

"I asked Alice to help me with directions, but for some reason she keeps throwing this thing called Google at me, which makes my head hurt. Google maps, cellphones..." Ethan shook his head, clearly confused by the technological leaps that had happened in his absence.

"It's quite simple, really. You access the application on the screen, then type in the address on the keypad and press enter. Then it guides you from where you are to where you need to be." John tried his best to show him the process, but gave up when he saw the wolf man's eyes glaze over.

"Did we come from the same century, John?"

"I think you will find that hot beverages have remained tragically unchanged throughout the years."

"I wouldn't mind for some coffee, now that you mention it."

John motioned to the waitress, a pretty young thing who had become accustomed to seeing his face at the cafe. She took Ethan's order with a smile and returned within a few seconds with a freshly brewed pot and a large mug for Ethan. John hurriedly typed a text message while the waitress poured the coffee. Ethan winked at her and observed John's speedy typing on the touch pad.

"How do you keep up?" He asked, wording a silent thank you to the waitress.

"Pardon?" John looked up from his text and pressed 'enter' to send.

"Technology. Looks like you're a whizz with that thing."

"I have a lot of free time on my hands. Always have. What better way to spend an immortal life than to constantly absorb new knowledge, embrace new things? It makes it all bearable, somehow."

"Right, well I was... not exactly in the right state of mind to learn anything these last few years."

"Yes. I'm truly sorry for everything that has happened to you. To you all."

"It's not your fault."

(Song suggestion: Funeral Singers - Califone)

Within that simple exchange, Ethan's demeanor had changed drastically. His eyes turned down, and he wrapped his hands around the coffee cup, the corners of his lips curling to hold back whatever emotion his face would betray.

"We live in a terrible world, John. Terrible things happen."

"I like to think that it allows us to appreciate the wondrous things with greater intensity."

"Damned if that ain't the god's honest truth. When I lost myself, I lost the last thing that kept me going, that was worth the fight. I had already lost my little girl. I lost Vanessa too."

And there it was, John thought. Ethan was depressed. He could certainly relate to that. But even so, Ethan had so much to live for.

"They found you, Mister Chandler. I always knew they would."

Ethan remained silent for a time, taking two sips from his coffee before speaking.

"Did you know? That Mina was alive?"

"She was the one secret that Miss Ives could not keep. She tried, for a very long time she tried, but at last she could not contain the joy, and the sorrow of bearing the knowledge that her daughter was out there somewhere, broken and alone. It took every ounce of her will to not reach out until the time would come for Mina to take her place in the coven. Had Miss Ives known of your whereabouts, of your... predicament, I'm sure she would have not been able to keep such a secret to herself either."

He spoke softly, delicately, careful to regard the man's fragile emotions. He became worried when he saw Ethan's hands tremor.

"Mister Chandler?"

"I remember." The response came after half a minute of silence.

"Pardon?"

"I remember everything. I remember what it was like when I was under Hecate's control. I remember looking at Vanessa, not feeling a thing. She was nothing to me. I remember all the deaths, all the screams, the pleading, so many innocent children... begging for mercy. I remember feeling their blood filling my mouth, soaking my tongue. The taste, oh God." His words were filled with horror, as if watching someone else perform the deeds he spoke of.

"That was not your doing, Mister Chandler. You must know that."

"I... enjoyed it. I fucking... loved it. Oh, Amy. Every time I look at that sweet little face I see her looking up at me all over again, those big green eyes, so scared. I hear her screams. Can still feel her little body go limp. And I enjoyed it. What kind of monster..."

His tears flowed freely now, his words broke off in a stifled sob.

"Ethan!" John commanded his attention in a voice he barely recognized as his own and the man looked up at him, startled by the sudden authority with which he was addressed from the otherwise humble, soft-spoken man.

"That was not you." John's voice was calm once more.

It took Ethan a while to rein his emotions back in from where he had unleashed them so completely. When he felt confident in his voice, he finally pleaded. "Please don't tell them."

"You have my word." John smiled sadly and sincerely.

"I don't feel worthy, John. I feel sick with what I've done. I hate being here without her. I don't know what I'm doing. I have three girls who look up to me to be the father they never had, and I have no fucking idea how I'm ever going to be what they deserve." He spoke now as if reading from a page, reciting his deepest concerns from an outside perspective.

"If I may. Perhaps you feel unworthy, perhaps you feel unsure of your role. But to those three young women, you are everything. We have all lost Vanessa, there is no denying that. But what you have gained, is three daughters who love you with every fiber of their being. I would trade this cursed life in an instant to have but one moment in which I am as needed and beloved as you are. Just one moment."

For a moment, Ethan lost his composure all over again, but quickly deflected with humor.

"Was that you politely telling me to stop being an ungrateful bastard?"

"Take what I have said however you choose to. I feel I have said what needs to be said. Let the past go. Why hold on to it when the present is so magnificent?"

"The present..." Ethan sighed, running his hand through his wavy hair and pulling at it slightly. "Something's coming, John, I can feel it. Something I feel so fucking powerless against."

"I feel it too, rest assured. You mentioned in your call earlier that you needed to ask me something important. Something you couldn't discuss in front of the sisters."

"I did, and I do."

"I am at your service." John clasped his hands together in anticipation of what he already knew Ethan was about to ask.

"What can you tell me about vampires?"

\---

(SS: Incantatrix - Moonspell)

"Caking it on a bit thick there, you lookin' to lose your virginity or something?" Alice observed as Amy applied the mascara to her eyelashes, something she had never done before. To top that, she was already wearing a layer of blush and midnight black lipstick to match the skimpy black dress she planned on wearing out to the club.

"Remind me again why we're going out to a club and not bringing it to us?" She continued while curling her hair when Amy gave no sign of responding to her insulting joke. They had agreed from the start to always apply their cosmetics and styling by hand as an unspoken feminine rule, something that made them feel human, like two normal women instead of powerful witches.

"Because I'm tired of being couped up in this house. It's not even a house. Where did we spend Halloween? Here. Where did we celebrate our birthdays? Here. Where do bad things usually happen?"

"Everywhere."

"Here."

"Hey, Negative Nancy, you want some horny dork following you home again? We all know how swell that turned out last time."

"Lay off me." Amy's voice was low, a hint of anger present in her words. She continued applying her mascara.

"What is up with you?" Alice dropped the curling iron onto the dresser. She felt like she was sitting next to a stranger, the image of Amy in the dresser mirror seeming more like the real deal than the girl looking into it.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Quit being Sherlock for once and you might actually enjoy life." Amy snapped.

"You hear that?"

"What?"

"That's the sound of you bitching. You don't bitch."

"Okay, what am I supposed to sound like?" 

Alice couldn't tell if Amy was amused or annoyed by her jokes.

"Shit, I dunno? Quirky? Naive. Like a schoolgirl?"

"Gee, thanks."

"That wasn't an insult."

"Would you prefer me acting like a ten year old for the rest of my life? Maybe I'm just growing up, had to happen sometime, right?"

"Not overnight. And you don't act like a ten year old. You act like... you."

"Well maybe the usual me sucks, and I don't like her anymore."

This threw Alice. Who was this person? What had happened to her? She hadn't been herself all day, but this, this was a whole new level of fucking weird.

"Well I do. Can she come out and play now?"

"That's the problem, Alice. Play time is over."

"Amy..."

"What?!" Amy spun around, her face practically pulled into a snarl. It terrified Alice unlike anything she had encountered before in her life.

"Nothing. Nothing." Was all she could manage, and Amy turned back to the mirror, relaxing as she generously applied eye shadow. When she was done, she smiled at herself and puckered her dark lips, kissing the air.

She stood up from the chair and admired her figure, then turned and walked past Alice toward the door, expecting her to follow. 

"Let's go seize the night, shall we?" Amy giggled in a way she never had before.

They arrived at the underground club half an hour later, where a large thick-set bouncer was guarding the metal door blocking their entrance.

"Password?" He grunted, his arms crossed tightly to his chest.

"Eat me." Alice responded, but the bouncer was not amused. He held out his hand to stop them from advancing. "Oh come on buddy, if this was so exclusive a pozzy, we wouldn't have known about it. Drop the act and let us in."

"The password is one word, and none of those are it." He maintained and stood firm.

Alice shrugged and turned back to Amy. "C'mon, let's go, what's inside that door isn't worth one more second of this shitstain."

To her surprise, Amy strode past her and toward the bouncer.

"My turn." She smiled and as she planted her lips on his, he grew slack in her embrace. Too slack. Alice raised an eyebrow as the bouncer tumbled to the cold hard floor.

"Well... Shit. That's new."

Amy beckoned for her to follow. She slid open the door as guitar riffs, electronic sounds and a thundering bass engulfed them.

(SS: Gunboat - Vixtrola)

The large room was alive with angry, seductive energy. The patrons moved differently than those in techno or rave clubs, their bodies swaying, their abdomens twisting in time with the song, women's hands tracing their own necks and breasts, their faces lost in a blissful place beyond the music. The few men there were mostly sat at the bar, daring their friends to down one beer after the other, applauding and cheering as the mugs were emptied. A large projector built into the ceiling cast large images on every wall, images of fire, thunderstorms, several shots of the pale round moon, the sunset, among others.

Amy approached the bar and ordered a Black Russian while Alice found a good spot to dance. The barman read Amy's lips, and with a straight, serious expression concocted her drink. He passed it to her, his words barely loud enough to hear above the roaring acoustics. "On the house!"

She downed it with a grin, earning the attention of the boys that were taking a break from their drinking contests. One of them approached her and shouted to the barman. "Get the lady a beer. Let's see if she can down that." 

"Make it a large draught." She added and her smile held a promise that made the young man instantly hard and he found himself unable to speak in her glorious presence. When the beer was placed on the counter, she casually tossed her head back and emptied the contents of the draught glass into her throat without so much as a burp. She wiped the foam off her lips with petite fingers, placing them in her mouth and sucking.

"Fuck me." The boy gasped.

"Maybe later." She growled into his ear, and made her way to the dancefloor.

Alice was dancing her worries away, barely noticing as Amy took her place beside her. Amy danced the dance of a seductress, working her body in ways that made the other women who observed blush and try harder to please, and the men at the bar drool and stare slack-jawed at the red headed beauty.

They danced there for a while. Alice felt deeply disturbed yet oddly proud at the same time as she watched her sister out-woman every woman in the club. When the song ended, she threw her firey hair back and her feet rose off the ground. She inhaled sharply and audibly, her body tremored as if she were experiencing her first orgasm.

(SS: Malum - Diary of Dreams)

"Amy?!" Alice bolted forward, grabbing her by the arms and pulling her back down, shooting a quick prayer to Vanessa that nobody saw her levitation. Amy's eyes tried focusing on her, she was in a euphoric state. "What the fuck?! What was that?!"

"He's here. I can feel him. He's inside me now." Amy moaned in ecstasy.

"Who?! What..?"

"Him." She looked past Alice to someone behind her. A man stood motionless in the crowd of dancing people. He was incredibly handsome, dressed in black, his shirt hugging his muscular arms and torso. His long wavy hair was slicked back, thick brown tendrils snaking around his shoulders and covering the neck of his blood-red cape, which rustled as if a breeze was blowing over it. She would never admit it out loud, but Alice felt an instant burning desire for the stranger, her hormones running wild with lust for this mysterious man.

"Who...who is that?"

She stood, watching powerlessly as Amy walked past her and toward him, his hand extending toward her. She took her place in the hollow of his arm, and he held her close to him, her cheek resting against his broad chest. He smiled at Alice and she heard his deep, sultry voice echoing in her head. "Soon, my love."

Then they were gone, disappearing within the sea of dancing bodies.

She felt disoriented, aroused and deeply sickened by what had just transpired as she stumbled outside, past the unconscious bouncer and back up to the surface. The street was empty, save for a passing car that seemed to be lost.

She collected herself, her mind running wild with what she was going to tell Ethan when she got home. How would she get Amy back, this was her fault. Amy was gone and it was all her fault.

"One down, two to go." A young man walked toward her from the shadows ahead. Bad boy alert, was Alice's first impression. He was younger than her, but not by much.

"The fuck are you?" She managed to get a grip on herself.

"Someone who wants to find your sister just as much as you do."

"Why, what do you want?" How did this stranger know so much about them, and how did he know what had just happened?

"I want my father dead. And since he's got your sister now, that makes you part of this little game. All of you. He's already been inside your head, hasn't he? I can tell. The stench of his influence is on you."

"Look, you little brat, if you know where she is, you better take me to her before I decide to start making wine out of your face."

"If I knew where they went, I would be there getting my murder on, not out here getting bombarded with threats by Witchy McBitch."

"You little shit!" She swung at him and her fist connected with his face, but he didn't reel, cry out or even blink. Her hand, however, didn't get off so lucky.

"Jesus fuck OW!!!" She clutched at her hand, stomping her foot down repeatedly in pain. 

Alucard smiled, amused by her failed attempt at hurting him. She threw a mean punch, but he had endured far worse in the past. People just didn't punch like they used to.

"What's that you said about making wine?"

"Fuck off." She groaned, nursing her hand. She couldn't tell if it was broken or just sprained but it hurt like a motherfucker.

"I'm not your enemy, but I've obviously caught you at an inopportune time. I'll check back when you're feeling a little less... Testy. Maybe we can come up with an actual plan of action then. Just watch yourself, he'll be coming for you too."

He dispersed into a cloud of bats and disappeared into the night, the sound of dozens of flapping wings fading into silence.

"Crows, then bats. I'm living in a plagiarism." She sighed loudly, annoyed by the lack of originality from her enemies. She turned and walked briskly home, cussing all the way.

"Fuckin' bats. Moron."

\---

She was in her old home now, in Bloemfontein. She watched as her father had sex with Lucy on the kitchen table. She was shocked, disgusted, yet she could not turn away. Lucy moaned beneath him and bit into his neck, his blood streaming into her mouth.

She recalled the memory of Malcolm Murray in the next moment. She and Vanessa had walked through that memory what seemed to her like an age ago, yet she could remember it clearly now. Sir Malcolm, her first father, died at the hands of this woman, his last words a plead to Vanessa to 'save Mina'. Now here she stood, watching as Lucy had another of her fathers completely in her thrall.

She tore her eyes away from the scene, walking through the hall and into her parents' bedroom. She and her mother lay butchered on the ground, but now something had changed, something she had not seen before, perhaps because Vanessa hadn't allowed her to see. Her father stood towering over them, bloody knife in hand.

He turned and walked from the room, passing her. She followed him through the house, into his study, where he sat down in his comfy chair, eyes wide and empty. He looked down at the knife, whispered Lucy's name and stuck the knife into the jugular vein in his neck, slicing a wide cut across his throat. A death rattle shook him as he bled copiously over the desk and in the next instant he was gone.

Mina watched, utterly horrified by the truth of her past. Death surrounded her, it always had. She had always been dogged by this woman, and now this very woman was in her home, in her sanctuary. Right beside her physical body, which was left vulnerable while she was travelling through the past. She ran then for the front door, racing back to the physical Demimonde. She opened the door and found she was too late.

Lucy stood before her, cold eyes laughing silently with hatred.

"You should have stayed dead."


	5. Bestem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dark seductions and secrets are the order of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's for the ladies.

Lucy blocked her exit from the memory, stepping through the door and slamming it behind her.

"You have been a thorn in my side since the day you were reborn. I thought once you were dead, Dracula would move on, but he kept waiting. Patiently waiting, claiming that someday you would return and carry the blood of the savior. And he was right. Sadly." Her words dripped venom, yet Mina could not sense real threat in them.

"You killed my family." She whispered, her words equally cold and filled with hate towards the intruder.

"I did." She smile triumphantly, proud of her work. "You just had to go snooping in your own noggin. It was a perfect plan, infiltrating your little nest as the victim that needed saving, why did you have to ruin it?"

"You want me dead this badly? Why not just kill me yourself? Why all the mind games? Why go after the people I love?"

"To isolate you from everyone who can help you."

Mina had hardly noticed that she was being backed into a corner, Lucy relentlessly moving toward her.

"Why?"

"So many questions. You were always so inquisitive."

"You don't know me."

"But I do, Monica. Mina. Heir of Evil."

The words stung her, as if she had reached deep into Mina's subconscious and unearthed one of her deepest and most hidden fears, that she now carried the burden that plagued her mother all of her life. That she was destined to end the world as she knew it. It couldn't be true. She was not evil.

"So what are you waiting for? Go ahead. Kill me. But I swear you'll pay for it the rest of your days."

"I am well aware of how capable your family is, my dear and I'm not afraid of the big bad wolf nor the little girls who my love is courting to replace me as we speak."

"What?"

"You haven't seen the signs? Amy has been corrupted, and soon Alice will be too."

"By Dracula? As in Christopher Lee, the cape and fangs guy?" She would laugh at the idea if her situation wasn't so dire. Dracula was a folk tale, nothing but fodder for media to capitalize on and an idol for dozens of fans to adore and worship. To suggest that he was in fact real was tantamount to claiming that Santa Claus was real. Yet Mina did not detect a hint of disillusionment in Lucy. This was no jest.

"Cape and fangs, yes. Christopher Lee, no. He is a way bigger catch. Especially in bed. Guess you will find out for yourself soon enough."

"Never." She wasn't a virgin, hadn't been since she was 18, yet she had absolutely no desire to have sex with a stranger, no less someone who threatened her family and had an unhealthy fixation on her.

"You have no idea what you are up against. Dracula is not one you can just say no to, trust me."

"And he wants me? Why?"

"Because you are his intended. Always have been. Why do you think I tried to kill you? Once he has you, I'll be nothing." Lucy's rage had subsided into a quiet sadness, and she seemed much less antagonistic in this state.

"What does he think about your attempt on my life then if I'm supposed to be his intended?"

Lucy glanced at her, the rage reemerging within her. She lifted her blouse up to where her bra hugged her breasts. A nasty scar beneath her right breast was more than answer enough, but she elaborated.

"He had my heart in his hand, and he could have ripped it out, but he knew I was still valuable and that Vanessa would find a way to bring you back. I should have listened to him." She dropped her blouse back down over her bare skin, anxious to cover her scar up again.

"So why are you here? Didn't learn your lesson?"

"I'm here for him, not you. He demands my obedience in this matter and I will not dare defy him again."

"I'm not going anywhere with you." She insisted even though Lucy didn't seem to have any desire to forcefully drag Mina to her master.

"You don't have to, but know this; if your Sisters mean anything to you, I'd hurry toward destiny if I were you. As much as it pains me to see it."

"We make our own destinies."

"Indeed we do. But some things in life are inevitable."

More words that struck a nerve with Mina, was death her fate? Was it truly unavoidable?

"I don't believe that."

"Best you see for yourself then. Go to Carfax Heights. He's waiting for you there."

"Where is that?" She had never even heard of the place.

"Seek and you shall find. And when you arrive, tell me again how you don't believe in destiny."

With a jolt, Mina snapped awake in the present, back in the physical Demimonde. She scanned the room and looked to the couch next to her. Lucy was gone, just as she had suspected.

\---

Alucard stepped out of the elevator and onto the third floor. The decor of the hotel had an uptight menace about it, like that hotel in The Shining. He loved film, and when he wasn't on a job he was watching a horror movie. The fake blood and death stares of the actors amused him. He knew what the real thing looked like. Real death and real blood. He made his living on it, in more ways than one.

He wasn't here for blood or death though, but something else entirely.

He knocked on the door numbered 23 and didn't have to wait long before a slender man of about 30 years of age, sporting a pair of horn-rimmed glasses, with delicate but masculine features and a short mop of brown hair answered the door.

"I have been looking forward to this all week." Hyde grinned and pulled Alucard in for a savage kiss, closing the door behind them.

"How goes the mission?" Hyde asked between kisses as he desperately pawed at Alucard's shirt.

"According to plan. Lily will have Dracula soon enough." He shrugged from his jacket and unbuttoned Hyde's shirt lazily.

"Good, mother will be pleased." He removed Alucard's shirt.

"Have I mentioned how disgusting the two of you are?"

"But you like disgusting, baby." He unbuckled Alucard's belt and worked on the button above the zip.

"Baby? You're the one still sucking tit, literally." He bit down and drew blood from Hyde's lip, who was by now used to the vampire's aggression. He shrugged his jeans down just enough to free his endowment and knotted his fingers in Hyde's hair.

"Show me how great you are at sucking, 'baby'."

Hyde complied eagerly as strong, cold hands shoved him down to his knees.

\---

(Song suggestion: The Northern - Alexisonfire)

Alice cut through an alleyway as she headed back home. There was nothing she could do now but return and break the news of Amy's disappearance with the dark and sexy stranger. She had never seen a man like him before in her life, and she found herself yearning to see him again, to throw herself at his feet and wrap herself around that big muscular body, to take him deep into her and - WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME?! - she thought to herself.

She had always prided herself on being the unbeddable, notoriously difficult Alice who would never throw herself at any man. Yet she knew, he was more than a man. He was some sort of god. No. He was more than that, and less. And that's what made him so incredibly appealing. He was the darkest desire hidden within her, the unspoken ache for touch, for primal animalistic sex and gentle, sweet lovemaking all at the same time. He was a demon, he was an angel. He was perfect in every wrong way that just seemed so damn right.

From across the room, his gaze had spoken volumes of all the glorious, unholy things he could and would do to her given the chance, and she basked in that simple promise. She loathed herself for wanting him, needing him, yet she could not think of anything else. Even the thought of Amy, of her family waiting back home, seemed like a silly distraction from the all-encompassing desire for the man that whispered but a few words into her mind from across a crowded room.

She kept moving, keenly aware that she was being followed. She glanced back but saw nothing, no one. She made a small incision in the palm of her hand with the sharp edge of her necklace. Better safe than sorry, she thought. She continued on through the dark corridor between the buildings, moving into a thin veil of cool mist, which tingled as it touched her legs, as if it were the stranger running his fingers suggestively but delicately over her thighs. She shivered and couldn't keep herself from emitting a small moan.

The mist grew thicker, rose higher, moved up between her legs. It skirted over an area of her body that was hardly touched even by herself. She tensed and kept moving, welcoming the imaginary fingers working up, sliding through her panties and causing her body to release erotic fluids it had never produced before.

Shaken as she felt herself become wet, she hurried through the fog and around the corner. She breathed heavily as she leaned back against the brick wall for support, her senses overwhelmed and her knees threatening to buckle beneath her.

Slow, unhurried footsteps sounded in the distance and came steadily closer. They echoed off the walls and she peeked around the corner to see the source of the sound, but no one was there. The footsteps did not stop, but came closer, and closer, and closer...

"Who's there?" She willed the blood from her hand and struggled to make it take solid form. The footsteps were right next to the corner now, and she closed her eyes, preparing to strike though her dagger was hardly ready to use.

In one brave moment, she turned the corner and struck at thin air. The footsteps had stopped and the mist was gone. She was alone in the alley with a bloody hand, the remnants of her failed dagger splashed across the ground. She breathed a sigh, of relief or disappointment she herself was not sure, and turned back to her intended route.

The dark stranger seized her hand, and she found she was unable to move, not that she even wanted to. His stare was ice and fire burning and filling the crimson irises that shone brightly in the darkness of the alley. He held her like that for what seemed like an eternity, then, slowly, sinfully, brought her hand up to his mouth, his tongue snaking out and trailing the cut, tasting her blood.

Her breath hitched at the sensation as he took her hand into his mouth, his eyes never leaving hers. She found herself wanting to give him more. To give him all of her. He recognized her intent and abandoned her hand, placing it gently on his chest. Her neck bared to him, her breaths now fast with anticipation, arousal and fear, she threw her other hand around his broad shoulder and allowed him to kiss her neck, his lips latching onto her jugular vein.

When his fangs sank into her, drawing her blood into him, she knew what it was like to truly belong to someone. From this moment to the end of time, she was his.

\---

Alucard lay awake in the darkness of the room. He guessed the time to be 3am, almost dawn. He would need to head out soon, but not before he did what he came here to do.

Hyde's warm breath against his cold skin formed a tiny layer of precipitation on his chest. Such a small thing, body temperature, but he loathed it. It reminded him of what he was and what he wasn't.

Careful not to wake the man-child, he gently lifted his head from where it rested upon his chest, slowly shrugging out from under his upper body, which thankfully didn't tense at the movement.

Silently, he extracted the syringe from a hidden compartment in one of his boots which lay discarded next to the bed. The thick purple substance sloshed in the syringe as Alucard carefully inserted the needle into Hyde's arm and pressed its contents into his bloodstream.

When the shot had been administered, he pressed a brief kiss to Hyde's temple. His work done, he got up, got dressed, and left the hotel room to seek a place to rest for the coming day.

\---

She had been walking in a trance much like the night she had arrived in London. Only this time, it hadn't been Vanessa's voice she was following, but a deeper one, a strong male bass that compelled and repelled her simultaneously.

She had followed the voice, determined to find her sisters, ready to face whatever beast it was that had them, be he seductive, repulsive, or both. She had entered his home, a large Victorian manse that made her home seem small by comparison. She had no idea where exactly she was, but the building stood right in the middle of an avenue bustling with activity, even for that time of night.

She had entered without knocking, not sparing her enemy the courtesy. The lobby was not unlike the one in her home, and it suddenly occurred to her that Vanessa might have shaped the Demimonde after a blueprint she had already been familiar with. There were several portraits, illuminated by the blue flame braziers built into the walls. Some of the portraits caught her eye, one of a castle in a snowy landscape, one of which she presumed was a nobleman holding his infant son in his arms, an inscription beneath read 'Mathias & Adrian'. 

The next portrait was of a raven haired woman in a peculiar outfit wielding a rather large sword. Mina felt that familiar feeling wash over her again, but before she could closely inspect the portrait, a voice sounded from the top of the stairs. That familiar voice that had guided her there. The voice of night incarnate.

"Welcome home, my love."

She took a deep breath and prepared to face her greatest enemy, knowing full well that on this very night, Lucy's words would be proven true, one way or the other.


	6. Ek Kan Nie Vergeet Nie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Embrace me.

Mina looked up into eyes made of fire, of hatred and love equally. Red as a blood eclipse. She felt the compulsion sinking beneath her skin, an immediate urge to give in, to abandon herself to him, yet she held control of her mind.

"You are alarmed. I understand. But you need not fear me." His seraphic voice reached not only her ears, but a part of her that could never forget. So long ago, that same voice whispered her to sleep as the sun peered over the hills and greeted the world anew.

"I don't fear you."

"You don't?" His lips were at her ear, and she spun around. He was not there, but she turned to find him absent from where he had stood as well.

"Where are my sisters?" She demanded.

"Safe. You have my word." He was all around her, everywhere and nowhere.

"I'm supposed to just take your word for that?" 

"I am no liar." His voice didn't betray a hint of anger though his words were stern.

"Prove it."

"In time." Such confidence, she thought, in his own prowess.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?"

"You know."

"I wouldn't be asking if I knew."

"You know." He insisted. "Open yourself to me. Let me in." His words were a plea and a command all at once.

"I can't." She wanted to, her entire being ached to let go of control and reason and just allow him what he wanted. She felt him wrap his arms around her from behind, his need for her overwhelming her senses.

"You must. If our fates are to come to pass, you must."

Something snapped in her then, his words reminding her why she had come.

"There is no fate."

Within the blink of the eye, she had made the cut and the sinuous blood whipped back at him, but he caught it in his hand, holding firmly.

"I created such magic, my love. They cannot harm me." With a flick of his wrist, the whip disintegrated into red dust.

"No. It can't be..." she gasped in disbelief.

"We are destined for the dark, you and I." He whispered against her lips now. "Accept it. Embrace it. Embrace me."

"No..." She barely managed to refuse, his cool breath mingling with hers.

"What is it you fear, Mina Murray?"

"I'm not a Murray, not anymore."

"You fear the death, the dark, though you have been familiar with it since the first breath you took in this mortal coil." He took her hand gently and covered it with his. "By my side, there will never be death, only life. No fear, no pain, no sorrow. Only my love for you." He released her hand then, the cut completely healed and all trace of it gone.

"I don't want that." She lied, her resolve crumbling.

"You have forgotten me, forgotten that you were mine once in an age long past."

"No. I remember." She admitted for the first time to anyone, including herself.

"It was not our time. You needed the Ives blood to complete you."

"Complete me?" 

"You are complete. Finally complete. Your place is at my side, forever more." He kissed her then, and she could barely hold on to the part of her that refused to return the gentle press of lips. His mouth was cold, tempestuous electricity against hers.

"Don't..." she whispered as his lips opened and closed around hers.

"Let me in." His words scratched in her head. "No man nor god nor beast nor kin could ever love you as I do."

And then, in a sudden moment, she let him in and welcomed his kiss. And it was like coming home.

\---

Ethan stood with Mina's letter in his trembling hands. He called to John, his voice barely a whisper, then called again and almost succeeded in raising his voice. Finally, John's name came as a scream from his lips.

\---

(Song Suggestion: Giftraum - Diary of Dreams)

He laid Mina down gently on the large bed, her bare body shivering at his touch. His hands traced her breasts, her nipples rising to meet his fingertips. Then his fingers were replaced by lips, a mouth that became warm in its icy fire, stealing the heat from her. She gave it freely, as she would give her all to him. He kissed down her slender body, his hands fondling her mounds as his mouth took her into him, enveloping her in a passion unlike anything she had ever felt.

She moaned her passion for him, feeling his darkness consuming her light, bringing her to a place beyond ecstasy. She came undone with his mouth firmly latched onto her, her body quaking with release as he moved himself between her legs, his powerful body anchoring her to the bed. She held on to the strong muscles of his back as he finally sank into her and set her on a path from which there was no redemption.

She gasped as his phallus immediately found her most sensitive area and made her scream out as she climaxed anew. He did not stop, he continued making love to her as she trembled violently, completely at his mercy. She wrapped herself around him as his thrusts shook her to her core.

Hours later, when he had spent himself within her for the third time, he bit into his tongue and kissed her deep, giving himself to her. She tasted the bittersweet copper as it filled her mouth.

"Be mine." He whispered, and she knew what he was asking of her. She bared her neck, her eyes begging him to seal their fate. With one final kiss to her neck, his fangs sunk deep and her life poured into him until there was nothing left of her.

When life returned to her eyes minutes later, the first thing they saw was her love lying next to her, waiting patiently for her return. She smiled, enjoying the feeling of the fangs that had grown from her upper gums. She pulled him in and straddled him, sinking herself down and taking him into her once more.

Their passion would last for several more hours.

\---

"We have to find them. We have to find them now, John!" Ethan was hysterical, shaking with terror.

"Calm yourself." John took him by the shoulders, but his eyes were darting all over the room, searching for an answer to questions only he knew. "Look at me, look at me!" John commanded, and Ethan looked at him in shock. "We'll find them."

"I knew this would happen, I knew it! I failed them! I failed!" Ethan burst into tears, sobs shaking his body.

"Pull yourself together. We will find them." John tried reassuring, but Ethan was lost in his own personal waking nightmare.

"I can't lose them again."

"Ethan, remember what you are. Remember what you are capable of. You can find her."

It was the best thing John could have said at that moment, because Ethan immediately responded to his words, recalling his keen sense of smell. He needed the wolf inside him now, for the first time he needed it.

"Okay." He whispered gratefully.

"Okay?" John repeated.

"Okay." Ethan proclaimed, his determination couldn't be more evident.

\---

The Sunset was open for business at 8am, and at exactly 8am, Lily Frankenstein, as she was once known, instead going only by the name Lily within the circles of the Illuminati, walked into the novelty store and ignored the young female shopkeeper who repeatedly tried for her attention before being cast aside and into a shelf, toppling the contents on it.

She used the Crystal of Third Sight to pass through the illusory wall without any trouble at all. Sitting at the bonfire, the only light in the room filled with the blackest of magic and everything a caster that meant harm could ever want, Erisabith was performing a ritual, speaking angry words into the fire and spitting, each drop of spittle raising the flames to such heights that it charred the ceiling.

"It smells of death in here." Lily observed. "Is that the animal corpses or just you?"

"Undead things falling into mine lap, ever more foolish than those come before. I can smell thy filthy soul." She hissed and spat into the fire.

"Our truce still holds. I shall not harm you if you return the favor." Lily hugged herself, speaking matter-of-factly to her old rival.

"Favor? I care not favor thee, unclean whore."

"However shall I recover from such a heinous insult?" She grabbed her chest as if truly shocked.

"Speak thy business and leave an old woman be. I detest the very sound of thee."

"You should see my face. Oh no, wait. You can't." She mocked and laughed, but Erisabith couldn't be bothered to respond.

"As prospective ruler of the earthly forces that govern this world," Lily continued, "I extend you and offer, one you will be hard pressed to refuse."

"I require naught from thee." The fire danced around the kindling, moving toward her hands.

"Require is a strong word, but youth is such a difficult thing to come by. One of my agents has been... disloyal. I do not trust in his ability to deliver what I need any longer."

"Ah. The young damphir, I presume?" The old witch was suddenly intrigued.

"Nothing escapes the all seeing eye. Big Brother is always watching."

"So it be. Woe is my conspiring ways." Erisabith cackled softly, the flames now running up onto her hand, making it seem as if they were burning.

"Here is my counter-offer. If you dispose of Alucard and deliver the Count to me, I shall share my power with you." Lily didn't sound like she particularly liked the idea of sharing anything with the crone, but she had no choice in the matter. The witch was the only one she knew that could succeed against Dracula's charms.

"The Count in holding will render thee omnipotent, eh?"

"Do trust I know what I'm doing. I did have a hand in Hecate finding the Ives manor, and I am in possession of an artefact which will allow me to finally create my master race."

Lily had tried endlessly to succeed with Victor and Dorian's help to produce her greatest need, but ultimately, both men proved worthless and utterly expendable. Her children were all stillborn, the one resurrection Victor had succeeded in producing unfortunately brought the babe back as something demonic and corrupted and had to be put down. When she had begun rising in the ranks of the New World Order and grown comfortable in her luxurious yet boring lifestyle, she adopted the baby of a crack whore, Edward Hyde. The runt proved valuable in certain areas of science, and when it came to pleasing her sexually. He was moronic and pliant. She enjoyed pliant.

"Why not deliver the Count to thyself, if thou art so powerful?" Erisabith commanded the flames in her palms to grow larger.

"He has certain... talents I am not immune against." No woman could resist Dracula, be they alive or undead.

"Strapping lad sounds to be." The witch cackled and hurled a fireball at Lily's head. She dodged out of the way and it hit the wall she had been leaning against.

Erisabith spat at her, literally, clearly no closer to accepting any offer from the Illuminati bigwig.

"I need him, and you have the means to get him for me." Lily remained calm and approachable.

"And mine reward?"

"A place at my side as I rule over the new world. Your youth. Uniting the brothers will grant us power beyond imagining. You could be young again. Help me make it happen." She didn't intend to sound so desperate, but there she was, begging for the crone's help.

"Oh indeed it shall come to pass, but not by thine hand nor thine will." Erisabith rose and her body began burning with the fire in her hands, the flames covering her from head to toe. "Bask in thine mirror image whilst able, thou shalt not possess such beauty long. Thou shall not have anything, nothing at all!"

With a mighty heave, the old witch hurled her entire flame body forward and toward Lily. The flames consumed her and she vanished from the shop, back to where she had come from. Erisabith sat back down at the fire, giggling maniacally.

"Cunt." she proclaimed, and the fire listened.

\---

(SS: The Hunted - Snow Ghosts)

When night fell on London once more, the streets filled with an eerie thick mist. The people noticed and became uneasy, but carried on with whatever they were doing. They didn't notice as four figures emerged from within the mist. The Dark Lord, dressed all in black, and his three brides, all in white satin.

The people only truly knew their mortal peril when sharp fangs sank into their veins, necks, arms, hands, whatever was exposed.

The brides feasted and their white dresses soon became dyed in deep crimson. Dracula drew women to him, allowing Amy and Alice to tear them apart before him, while he kissed Mina, tasting the blood of her latest victim.

The streets ran red as screams filled the air. It would be a very long night. And on that night, the end was born.


	7. Sonsondergang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope and Despair

He comes to them in the hour of the witch, and they welcome him as if they were expecting him all along, knowing their day has finally come to atone. The Dawnwalkers, as they are known to him, converse amongst themselves. With a nod, Venric, the father, rises from his chair at their table and approaches Alucard. Thomas, his youngest son, leaves his two brothers' side and joins his father without a word, the look between them a lifetime of understanding.

Venric takes Thomas' hand and together they lead Alucard up to the roof of the isolated farm house, where they sit down and await the dawn silently, words entirely unnecessary.

Alucard has never been a fan of the sun, but for their sacrifice, he will endure it. He is thrown by their closeness, by the fact that Thomas will not or cannot let his father die alone.

How lonely they must have been, cut off from the world for centuries, neither human nor vampire, though once both in ages long since past. Sleeping through life, waking only during the hours of morn that belong to the night.

He watches as father and son huddle closer together as the sky burns an orange swath in the distance, Venric's arm wrapped around his youngest, hugging him tight as the sun peers over the hill and casts its light upon them. They remain frozen in its warmth, the wind blowing them apart gently, carrying them away on its wings.

When they are all but gone, two shining orange stones remain in their wake, contrasted by the red slates on which they rest. Alucard feels a stab of longing, longing and grief for the closeness he has been made to witness. The bonds and love of family which he will never know.

He picks the stones up and holds them in the palm of his hands, their heat warming his cold skin and sending a shiver down his spine. He silently words thank you to his long lost relatives as he looks upon the shadows forever burnt into the roof. He places the stones in his mouth and swallows them down, feeling their heat inside of him burning like the fire of renewed hope.

\---

(Song Suggestion: Unfinished Sympathy - Massive Attack)

Ethan had followed their scents for longer than he had hoped, the trail sporadic, as if they had gone in a million different directions all at once, branching out to confuse him on purpose, he realized. John had gone in a different direction, searching for them elsewhere. Were they truly so desperate to keep themselves from being found, he wondered?

But he was adamant, singular in his pursuit, and finally, two nights later, he found them in a lounge with their new master. He was sitting on the upper balcony alone, watching as his brides fed on the willing patrons, all of them under the thrall of the vampires, bearing their necks in a euphoric state of desire.

It took one look upon his daughters to realize he needed a different tactic than running up to them and dragging them back home and away from Dracula. He looked up to where the monster sat watching contentedly and smiling down at Ethan. He made his way up to the balcony, his path forward easy, too easy.

"The wolf of God. I have been expecting you." Dracula said quietly, as if to himself, his attention still to where his brides were feasting down below. "Please sit."

Ethan had hardly sat himself down before he demanded, "Let them go. Now."

"I am not keeping them against their will, but I understand why you would think that." He sounded amused, as if he was privy to a secret only he knew.

"I know my daughters. They wouldn't willingly fall to the charms of evil. They've come too far, been through too much..." Ethan tried his best to keep his voice level, though inside he was screaming, the White Wolf scratching to get out.

"Is it really so hard to believe that Mina, Alice, even Amy are warm blooded young women filled with desires? Desires for love. The love of a man who desires them equally."

"You are no man. This we both know."

"Neither are you, Lupus Dei." He looked upon Ethan for the first time, his eyes burning like two red hot coals in the dim surroundings.

"Fuck you." Ethan balled his fists, his anger reaching boiling point at the harsh truth of what Dracula was saying.

"You make for such delightful company, good sir."

"I'll ask again, one final time. Release my daughters!" He couldn't keep himself from shouting and slamming his fist down on the table.

"They are not my captives, as I have stated."

"You have them under your spell. That's right, I know what you did to Mina in her first life, I know of your ability to corrupt innocence."

"Innocence? Innocence?! There exist not in this world such a thing as innocence. What is born is corrupt the minute it draws breath, drawn to sin by its very nature. Do not presume to speak to me of innocence." His voice had turned from neutral, nonchalant to menacing and bitter in an instant. Had Ethan been a lesser man, he would have been terribly frightened. He was not. Anger drove him, not fear.

"Why them? Why my family? Vanessa is dead, your intended is gone! Why couldn't you just leave us in peace?!"

"So terribly misinformed you are. Vanessa was but the gate. Her blood was all that was needed."

"What?"

"She was merely the mother of evil. A common misconception, the title was never meant to be symbolic. She very literally became the mother of the greatest evil this world will ever know. And that evil is now, after centuries of longing and waiting patiently, finally mine." He smiled triumphantly, and the truth dawned on Ethan in one moment of horrible clarity.

"Mina. You needed her to be reborn. Resurrected. With Vanessa's blood."

"Finally you catch on."

"Alice and Amy? Why them? Was it just convenient? Or is that part of your fucking master plan too?" He looked down to where the three young women were still exsanguinating the people in the lounge, turning away and looking down at his hands instead.

"They share in Mina's blood, and so too will they amplify her power once she fully ascends to her throne as my queen."

"They mean nothing to you." He whispered angrily.

"They mean more to me than you could ever grasp. You may not realize this, but Mina and I are one now. We share everything. We share love, desire, hatred. We have consummated our love and so married our minds and our spirits. She cares for her sisters, as they care for her."

Ethan felt a wave of revulsion washing over him at the idea that Dracula could feel what they felt, and that they felt what he could. "What am I to you then?"

"An inconvenience, Great Wolf. She loves you, and therefore so too do I, but there is no room for you among us, her love for you is holding her back, a weight bearing down on her ankle and keeping her from rising to meet her truest self. Breaking that love will be a delicate affair, methodical, systematic, but I shall succeed in this, have no doubt." 

He spoke with determination, conviction and Ethan shuddered at the thought of losing the love of the only family he had left. They had taken so long to find each other only to be ripped apart by this creature. He wouldn't allow it.

"You think I'm just gonna sit here and let you do that? Watch my daughter become everything her mother fought so hard for her not to become? Fuck you."

"Ethan Talbot. I wish no harm to befall you, for it would displease my brides. So I must implore you, leave this place. Leave now and never look back. We shall do the same, and you will be spared our wrath when the world is reborn, this I swear unto you." It was meant as a plea, but to Ethan it was nothing short of a threat.

"I repeat, fuck you."

"I expected as much." Dracula sighed and motioned to someone behind Ethan. Ethan shot up from his chair and spun to face Dracula's lackey. He froze and his eyes grew wide. 

"You... No..."

John Clare lunged forward and wrapped him in a chokehold as fast and as relentless as a boa crushing its prey. 

"Why?" Ethan choked out as consciousness rapidly faded away from him.

"Forgive me." Were the last words he heard before he slipped into darkness.

\---

He awoke to a horrid scent filling his nostrils. Urine, fecal matter, bile, blood and rot all mixed into a pungent stench that snapped him wide awake instantly. He was in a dungeon in a vast cave, moonlight spilling in from the broken roof and bathing the platform his cage stood upon in light.

He met her face then, those gentle, familiar eyes staring him down, staring the wolf inside of him back into a corner. She was sitting beside him inside of the cage. He obeyed her gaze, though his tongue refused to be held.

"Mina. Baby... What..." He tried reaching for her but found his hands shackled to the cave wall. Her compulsion was overwhelming, silently ordering him to not fight against his imprisonment.

"Mina please, don't do this. He has you under some sort spell, but you're stronger than this. You have to fight him, you have to let me go. I can save you. All of you!" He begged, his words struggling for release.

"I'm sorry, father. I love you, but I love him too. Please don't fight this." Her voice was cold and apathetic, though it was still hers. There was hope. He just needed to find her deep inside the dark place she now resided.

"You don't know what you're saying, Mina! You can't love that monster. He's using you, all of you, to get what he wants!"

"You're wrong. He's shown me what I really am, what I've always been meant for. I can't describe it. All my life, I've always seen this moment in my mind, I've always yearned for the dark. I just couldn't admit it to myself. I couldn't embrace it, wouldn't. It's always been there, waiting for me. Waiting for me to accept it, to accept myself. He changed that. He saved me." She undid his shirt buttons, pulling the plaid back and exposing his chest.

"No! I can't believe that, not from you. You're my daughter! I know you..."

"That's right, I am your daughter. And Vanessa's. The child of two exceptionally dark beings. How could it have been anything else. How could I have been anything other than this? In a way... I have been cursed since birth. You should never have had me. You should have seen this coming." Her words cut deeper than they had a right to.

"Let me loose, Mina. I'm begging you, just let me go and we can get out of here. We can go back to..."

"To the safe environment where we pretend to be angels instead of demons?"

"Mina, don't you see what he's done to you? This isn't you, it's him!"

"I want what he wants. I know what he knows. I know you are trying to stop us. I won't let you." She made an incision in her palm, letting her blood flow free.

"What are you going to do? Mina? What are you going to do? Please... Help me to understand why you're letting this happen?"

She looked down at the blood in her palm in silence, pensively.

"Aren't you tired?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"What?"

"I know I am. I'm so very weary of this constant fighting. Of the constant running from threats, from forces trying to hurt us. All because of who we are, because of what we were made for, what we were supposedly destined for. Vanessa was destined for the dark, yet she spent her entire life running from it, she fought it to her death. You're fighting it too. Why?"

"Because of you. Because I have you. You and Amy and Alice."

"Yet you sit alone every single day with your newspaper, sulking about what you've lost. Let's face the ugly truth for once instead of dancing around it. We are broken. We tried. You did, I did, but some things just can't be fixed no matter how hard you try to fill that gaping void. She's gone, and she is never coming back."

Mina's blood coiled in her palm, moving forward with a life of its own, snaking towards Ethan's chest.

"So why go on, why keep fighting? What are we fighting for? Why do we keep fighting back the dark when it is where we belong? Where we have always belonged." Her blood cut through his skin and he hissed.

"Please. Please don't."

"I'm sorry, but I can't have you shifting and breaking free. Not until we do what needs to be done to release you from my heart. This is necessary."

Her blood was inside of him now, snaking past his ribcage and wrapping itself around his heart, wrapping tightly, caging it.

"Please..." He begged, and she shed a tear as his heart was wrapped in her darkest spell.

"Please..."

\---

In his throne room, not unlike the one in the Demimonde, John came before Dracula where he sat with Amy and Alice at his feet, carressing and rubbing against his legs seductively in a manner that was completely unlike them.

"Brave undead, here we stand once more." He spoke as he had spoken to John many, many years ago in his isolated castle hidden in the snow. The ancient immortal had changed much since then, regained his human guise. He was in the form of a handsome man now, much like John. Yet they were both still empty beneath the flesh. 

"My lord." John bowed his head in respect and shame.

"No need for formalities, after all this time." Dracula said warmly, sincerely.

"I betrayed you in days of yore, refused a place at your side. I was a fool. How I have hated myself every passing day, as you must hate me in turn." He remained with his head bowed.

"I could never hate thee. Your transgression has long since been pardoned and my arms are open unto you, now and for eternity. This I promise."

"I do not deserve your mercy, much less your forgiveness. I am not worthy."

Dracula rose from his throne, and his arms opened wide, the limbs stretching and revealing a glimpse of his former self, those long, shadowy, bat-like arms.

"Embrace me, my undead. My brother. My son." John stepped forward hesitantly to meet his former comrade, but spun around as the throne room doors were kicked off their hinges.

"You're in a world of shit now, pal. My father has very peculiar ideas about family. I would know." Alucard spared a glance of hatred for his father.

"You have returned to me at last, wayward child." Dracula declared, his tone as cold as the castle he long inhabited.

"I haven't been a child for a very long time, thanks to you." Alucard stopped in the middle of the room, crossing his arms, weapons still sheathed.

"You never did quite take to our way of life. Pity, I offered you the world at my side and you spat at my feet." The father berated the son.

"What can I say, your feet have always been covered with the filth from the bones you walk upon. They needed a rinse." Alucard smiled at his own joke.

"Such an abhorrant accent, child. Canada did you no honor."

"Neither did you. Ever."

"Have you come before me to besmirch me with your dashing wit or have you finally come to throw yourself upon my blade?"

"Hell, why not. No real reason for me to go on running so just get it over with already. Hope you're up to the task, I'm not gonna make it easy for you."

As he reached for his crossbow, Lucy appeared behind him, stake at his back.

"Don't you dare make a move." She whispered and kissed him on the cheek. "You know it will be your last."

"There shall be no death tonight, child, tempted by your offer of blood I am, I am sated for the night. I have everything I want this day. Your death shall be the start of a glorious new one." Dracula approached him where he stood with his death mere inches away. His father was close enough to whisper to him.

"Soon, my boy. Very soon. I shall savor it, you have my vow."

"Sit on it."

Lucy gripped his shoulder and steered him with the stake at his back out of the room, leaving Dracula standing and staring at the space where his son had stood, lost in thought.

"You love him." Amy remarked from where she sat, having a strong empathic link to her master she felt his whirlwind of emotions.

"I do." Dracula stated dryly, unable to deny what they already knew.

"Then why do you want him dead?" Alice asked, his reasons still unknown to them despite their bonds.

"He is an inconvenience and an embarrassment to everything I am."

He heard their doubt, their shared question. Would the day come when he too felt the need to be rid of them, had they stepped out of line? He didn't feel an answer to the question was necessary.

\---

Lucy took Alucard down to the cave, to the cage where Ethan was being kept. As she pushed him in and locked the door behind her, she peered at him through the bars.

"I may never have liked you, as a matter of fact I detest you, but I never thought you an idiot. Whatever you are planning, boy, I promise you, if your father does not get the opportunity, I will finish you off myself."

"Why thanks, Lucy!" He chirped at her. "You might have some trouble getting my dick hard first, ya haggard piece of twat." His demeanor was now one of hate.

"Think I'll cut out your tongue first. Yes, yes. Off with the tongue." She murmured to herself as she walked back to the entrance and returned to her master.

"Cheer up, Father Ives. The cavalry is here." Alucard said without turning to look at Ethan, pressing his face against the bars.

"Forgive me for not cheering."

"Not that you could if you wanted to. Chains and all."

"Yeah." Ethan sounded completely defeated, broken.

"But I like it when guys underestimate me. Watching their eyes pop and their jaws drop... One of the simple things that make life worth living."

"Whatever you say, kid."

They were both acutely aware of a persistent din coming from deeper down into the cave, from below the raised platform. It was a chorus of countless voices.

"You hear that too?" Ethan asked him and listened more intently.

"I hear it." The vampire said, already knowing what the noise was.

Far below them, thousands of captured civilians were screaming for help.


	8. Wag of Sterf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethan and Alucard share common ground and John's motives are made known.

She answered his summons, entering the throne room where he sat patiently waiting. Mina was upon his lap, her arms coiled around his neck and her face nuzzelled into his neck. Alice and Amy were, as usual, at his feet, ever clawing at his coat tails, reaching up to their dark lord. He didn't speak, his eyes beckoning Lucy closer to kneel at his feet.

"My lord." She humbled herself before him as she kneeled.

"Lucy, my dear sweet Lucy." His voice was sweet, perhaps tinged with a hint of sadness, but only to her ears that knew him so well. "How long a road we have walked, thee and me." And suddenly, the sadness was gone, instantly replaced by the authority of a king.

"My brides and I have decided that your service is no longer necessary. You are to leave immediately. Make haste and be off."

And just like that, it was over. All their decades spent together, hunting, fucking, her part in all his plans over and done with as if it never happened. She had always known this day would come, yet it still tore her lifeless heart from her chest. She had no soul, could not love, yet she was overcome with uncontrollable sorrow.

"My lord, please..." She pled in vain.

"You dare challenge my word!" His voice was thunder and it struck her harder than a physical blow ever could. Mina peered down at her, smiling deviously. Little bitch.

"No, my lord. Your word is absolute."

"Then be off." He was calm once more, but his words remained firm.

"Yes, my lord. My love." She bowed her head and stood back up, leaving her master and everything she had behind.

"Be well, Lucy Westenra." He said casually before turning to Mina and kissing her deeply.

As Lucy left Carfax Heights moments later, her fists clenched and a rage boiling up inside of her unlike any she had ever experienced. Her lips curled back in a snarl and she screamed, startling several pedestrians on the street. She gathered her strength as she crouched down, then released it as she jumped up into the night sky, disappearing from sight.

\---

"You're one of them." Ethan finally said after a long silence between him and Alucard. "You don't have a scent or a heartbeat, but you don't look like the ones I've faced before." The vampires he had once hunted long ago with Sir Malcolm Murray and Vanessa were paler, their eyes glowing red instead of a deep blue in the dark.

"The perks of being one of the first." Alucard shrugged.

"Can you get us out of here?"

"I can't. This cage is spelled to keep prisoners of all sorts, including you and me." He turned back to the bars, wrapping his hands around them and rattling them lazily.

"You know what I am?" Ethan asked, not entirely surprised by his fellow prisoner’s knowledge.

"I know more than I care to." Ethan didn't know if he was talking about what he knew in general, or just what he knew about him.

"If you're one of them, why are you in here instead of up there?"

"If your family loves you so much, why are you down here?" Ethan gasped at the hurtful question, not having dared ask it to himself. "I'll just go ahead and answer that question for you. You and I are unwanted. We're in his way."

"I don't suppose you know what he's planning to do with all those people down there?" Ethan could still hear the screaming from below, despite becoming conditioned to the sound.

"I have an idea."

"I need to know."

"Trust me, you don't."

"Those are my daughters up there!" He could hardly raise his voice, despite his anger at the situation.

"Right now, they're Dracula's pets, nothing more." Alucard sighed and turned around to face him. Ethan was taken aback momentarily by the intense blue glow of his eyes. "Look, all you need to know right now is that I'm right where I need to be and if this all goes according to plan, those people down there won't have to die. You're just going to have to trust me on this."

"Trust you? I don't even know who you are."

"Then ask. We're stuck here for a while, and if this all goes to hell, which I'm really hoping it doesn't, this is probably the last conversation I will ever have with anyone. Not that I've ever been much for socializing."

"Neither have I."

"I know, it makes this talk easier, oddly enough." Alucard turned and leaned with his back against the bars.

"So..." Ethan struggled to ask a question now that he was put on the spot, but one soon came to mind. "Are you related to him?"

After some time, Alucard finally answered.

"A lifetime ago he was my father." He looked at Ethan again, their eyes meeting in silent understanding. "Things change. People change. I think you know how that works."

"I do." He knew a great deal, and Ethan wondered just how far his knowledge stretched. "You seem to know a lot about me."

"Knowledge is a weapon if you decide to use it." Ethan shivered at that. He wouldn't ever want to be on the vampire's bad side.

"Should I be concerned?"

"Not unless you give yourself a reason to be, Ethan Talbot." Another shiver ran through him, but for the reason that it was the first time in a very long time that he had been called by his real name and didn’t hate hearing it.

"You know my name. Do I get yours?" He prodded wearily.

"Alucard." 

It took Ethan all of 5 seconds to make sense of why the name tickled him.

"Wait, isn't that Dracula spelt backward?"

"You're very perceptive." Alucard said, his tone steady, without a hint of amusement or surprise.

"So that's not your real name?"

"It's the only one I have now. The boy that had a name has been dead and gone for a very long time."

"How old are you exactly?"

"Older than you."

"You're kidding." He could hardly believe that someone appearing so young, younger than him, could be his elder.

"Wish I was."

"What happened between the two of you?" Ethan dared to ask about his relationship with Dracula, realizing that there was no need to speak his name. "There's obviously some bad blood."

"That's an understatement if there ever was one." Alucard took a deep breath and continued. "He was human once. When my mother gave birth to me we were all still mortal. But even back then he was far more concerned with grooming me for his god than being a father."

"His god?"

"Dracula wasn't born or merely fell from heaven as he would like everyone to believe. Before he became flesh, he was nothing less than his brother, an entity residing outside of this plane of existence, barely able to influence anything but through the actions of those that worshipped him."

"And your father worshipped him?"

"More than that, he pledged his flesh and those of his family to Dracula as an act of sacrifice. One of many, really. Thousands of people died by his hands for evil to firmly take root. It's on that evil that the fallen angel fed. My mother and I were to be the last tributes before his god took up permanent residence."

As he spoke, Ethan couldn't detect a hint of sorrow in his voice, even as he described the horrors of what came next.

"I watched him do it without so much as a blink. She didn't see it coming until the dagger entered her chest. Then again, and one last time."

"Fuck." Ethan was stunned, and he couldn't say anything else. Yet he understood the numbness and apathy that Alucard clearly felt, perhaps better than anyone ever could.

"He turned on me then, but as he raised the blade, his god spoke to him, told him to 'spare' me. Instead, well... Here I am."

"Are they still separate beings? Is your father still in there somewhere?" Ethan asked, his mind brimming with the cascade of new facts.

"No. There is only Dracula now. They merged into one being, eventually."

"You ran from him?" Ethan scoffed at how idiotic the question sounded to himself, but Alucard just nodded.

"I spent some time running; scared, alone, helpless. Then the day came when I wasn't."

"You got help?"

"Not really. Ran across a sorcerer, centuries ago, I asked for his help, he turned me down because of what I was. Since then, I've been going it alone. And I've made it this far." 

They were both loners, Ethan realized.

"I'm surprised you're both still alive if this has been going on for as long as you say it has."

"There have been some close calls, I won't lie, but neither of us have landed that killing blow. Until now. I figured it was time for an all or nothing bet, because for every battle I win, I lose one and it's not getting me anywhere. I think he's probably relieved that I'm making it this easy for him. He's not surprised at all that I'm finally ready to die."

"Are you really?"

"I would rather die tomorrow than spend one more day losing against him."

This made an odd sort of sense to Ethan, and he knew that if the roles were reversed, he would probably do the exact same thing.

"You won't be alone this time." He said with conviction, fully intent on ending the Count's existence.

"You really think you stand a chance against him?" Alucard made a small laugh in the back of his throat, and Ethan was surprised at how beautiful his smile was. A hint of innocent playfulness in a demeanor of constant steely resolve.

"You know what I am, what I'm capable of." He tried growling in an attempt to show his formidable nature, but a pathetic whine escaped his lips that made him blush with embarrassment.

"What you were capable of. You've been cursed. I'm guessing it was Mina. You're in no condition to fight."

"How did you..." Ethan knew he was telling the truth, he could feel it. Mina had weakened him considerably. His throat constricted with overwhelming emotion.

"After a certain point, a certain age you'll start picking up stuff without even trying too. Also... I can smell it. You smell utterly human right now. There is no place for humans in this fight."

"I'm... human?" He gasped and flexed his fingers, feeling them tingle as blood rushed back into the tips. He hadn't even realized his hands had been asleep.

"Not entirely, nor permanently, but as long as the curse holds. You still have all of your heightened senses but you won't be able to shift into a wolf. It's actually funny when you think about it. Your curse is under another curse. All things considered - how you've struggled with it - I'd say it's not entirely a bad thing, just the timing that's a bit off. By a lot." 

"Mina..." He swallowed loudly, his brow furrowed, fighting back the tears that were forming in his eyes.

"Cheer up, she could have done far worse to you."

"But she... She had the power to do this all this time? To make me human?" He allowed himself to wonder if she had been keeping him in his cursed state on purpose, denying him the right to be truly human. He regretted the question the moment he thought it.

"She had the power yes, but not the knowledge. Dracula is the origin of blood magic. She's got a whole cook book of new spells at her disposal now. Stuff she got right from the source."

Alucard saw his emotions ready to break free from his hold and took a step closer, hunching down close to him while still keeping a safe distance from his personal space. It still brought Ethan a great amount of comfort.

"If she wanted to, she could have killed you. She didn't. I'd say there's still some hope left for her. While she still loves you anyway. But we're running out of time, fast."

"What are they going to do?" Alucard backed off once more, returning to the bars on the other side of the cage, staring through them as if waiting for something.

"Alucard!" He commanded his attention back, but the vampire with the youthful appearance didn't turn back to face him. "What's he going to do to my little girl?"

Finally, the vampire answered.

"He's going to crown her."

\---

The wine cellar was filled to the brim with shelves and cupboards stacked with countless bottles of wine, dating all the way back to the 1200’s. John sat at a small round table, which in itself was an antique from days gone by. Dracula poured him a glass of wine from a bottle labeled with a small tag attached to the neck by a simple string.

"It is a fine vintage, from our time." The vampire lord's red eyes glinted with pride.

John rotated the glass, the wine in it swirling around. Deeply he inhaled the liquid’s bouquet, he could smell the blossoms of autumn. He took a tiny sip, tasting the grapes of old mixed in with blackberry perhaps?

"Exquisite." He concluded shyly.

"It is." Dracula agreed, sitting down across from him. He watched John for a long time, observing him, seeking his face for truth.

"I will be forward with you. I was concerned when I first learned of your alliance with the Ives woman." He finally stated.

"She was my friend. She was the first mortal woman who didn't look upon my face and recoil." John smiled grimly at his master, but Dracula's expression remained solid as stone.

"She was never entirely mortal. Perhaps in body, but her soul was that of an old one, and it flowed through her veins, as it now does through my brides."

"Did you ever meet?" John asked, wary of the line that needed to be respected whilst asking questions.

"We did. She knew not who I was of course, but I watched over her for some time, following her steps, whispering into her ear everything of me."

"Your home seems not unlike ours. Was the Demimonde your design?" To John, the resemblance between the two homes were uncanny.

"It was but an imprint, one of my whispers."

"I see."

Silence hung between them for a while as John enjoyed the wine given to him.

"Won't you join me?" He asked, feeling increasingly uncomfortable with Dracula's silent stare.

"As you wish." He got up and fetched a glass from a display case nearby. He returned to his seat.

"May I, my lord?" John asked, reaching for the bottle, and Dracula handed him the glass.

"I do not often drink wine, as you know."

"Seems a shame for a good vintage to be enjoyed alone." John reasoned as he poured a glass for Dracula, testament to his time spent working a bar.

"You are concerned for them." Dracula threw him with the question, but he didn't dare show it. He instead passed the filled glass of wine back to Dracula.

"I care for them, as their mother cared for me."

"And they care for you. They trust you. And so too do I." He took in the aroma before drinking deep from the glass, skipping the taste test.

"I can hear the question you wish to ask, you may as well speak your mind." Dracula kept trying to find a crack in John, but couldn't break his cool calm posture.

"Forgive me." John sincerely apologized without so much as a blink, though he felt ashamed at being caught with the question in his mind. He needed to be more careful.

"I have not taken Alice and Amy to my bed, nor do I plan to. There may be only one queen. I have sired them for Mina. She will need their strength." Dracula downed the last mouthful of his wine.

"To what end?"

"To open the gates unto me and allow me an audience with God."

"An audience." John meant it to sound as a question, but it was a betrayal of knowledge. He already knew what Dracula planned. He had always known.

"His time is at an end. The age of dark is nigh. The heir of evil shall sit upon her throne next to her king, the new God, and together we shall spawn forth horrors this world could not conceive of. We have lived in his shadow long enough, brother. Don't you agree?" John smiled, hoping that it seemed as sincere as he hoped, though terror turned his stomach.

"Yes." He agreed.

"You will be at my side when I conquer heaven and earth?" The threat in the question wasn't very well hidden.

"Of course, my lord."

Dracula rose up from his seat, placing his hand upon John's shoulder, gripping tightly, hurting him.

"My brother. If only my own child had but half your reason and sense. No matter. The day comes. Shall we rest?"

He walked away, expecting John to follow. He did, like a puppy following its new owner.

\---

"Still awake?" Alucard asked, hearing the bat of Ethan's eyelashes from where he stood staring out between the bars.

"The sleeping arrangements are terribly uncomfortable." The chains around Ethan's hands rattled as he strained against them.

"Yeah, sorry I can't undo those. Not yet."

"Can't or won't?"

"Can't. They're sealed with blood magic, like everything in this damn cage."

"So what's the plan?" Ethan asked after moving his body and making himself a bit more comfortable.

"We wait."

"For what?"

"Either help or death."

"That's not very comforting." He thought for a moment, wondering if he should speak his mind to this stranger. "'You don't know what you got until it's gone.' I've always thought I understood what that meant. Now I'm living the meaning." He confessed.

"It's human nature to be ungrateful." Alucard recited as if it were a line from a book he read.

"I'm not human." 

"More human than me."

Ethan realized he was grateful for the company.

"This might sound pathetic, but I'm glad I'm not alone down here."

Before Alucard could respond, they were both made alert to a faint crackle that grew louder by the second. An electric surge manifested before the cage, and when it was wide enough, a man dropped through it, falling to his knees and losing his last meal. The electric current dissipated and disappeared entirely, leaving no trace of itself. Once his stomach had been purged, the man stood weakly, stumbling over the uneven rocks.

"I knew you'd come." Alucard said with a smile as Henry Jekyll undid the bolts and opened the cage door. Within a moment, Alucard was wrapped in his arms, wide eyed and unresponsive as his lover's benevolent alter cried into his shoulder.

"I was so worried. God, don't ever do that to me again!"

"Easy, easy." Alucard gently shrugged from his embrace, clearly uncomfortable at the intimacy. "Congrats, hero. You saved the day." He patted Jekyll on the shoulder awkwardly.

"Little help here?" Ethan grinned impatiently with new hope in his eyes.

\---

'Are you absolutely sure that you're up for this? Once we set things in motion, there's no turning back.' Ethan's words came back to John as he snuck out of his bed.

'I'm sure.' He remembered his answer, as he stood at the foot of Dracula's marital bed.

'You need to clear your thoughts, John. If he finds just a hint of a thought that you might not be sincere, the plan fails.'

John was next to Dracula now, looking upon his former master one final time as he gripped the large stake in his hand.

'I spent years perfecting the art of lying to him.'

John raised the stake high and brought it down with one powerful move. It stopped an inch above the vampire lord's chest, his arm held in a steely grip by a cold hand.

Dracula's eyes flew open, smiling that evil, malicious smile that John has always feared. He would not be forgiven a second time.


	9. Bloed en Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bat vs Cat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A happy return to the action, my favorite part of the writing process. There has been enough build-up.

His eyes were darkness, death and hatred, all focused into a singular stare that held John in their gaze and rendered his intended death blow instantly moot. Fear and telepathic atrophy crippled him and the stake fell from his hand to the glass floor with a hollow clang. Dracula wrapped his hand around John's throat while the other threatened to break the bones in his wrist.

"Are you so foolish as to believe you could kill me? I am the dragon! I am eternal!" Dracula boomed and flew across the room with John in his grasp, slamming him against the wall. Mina, Amy and Alice awoke from where they had been sleeping next to him, hissing in unison as they realized what was happening, tapping into their link with their sire. Their thoughts linked to his, and he heard what he had wanted to hear all along. He smiled and his grip on John's throat tightened.

"It appears you have reached the end of your road, brother. My brides have decreed that your betrayal should be answered with a swift death."

And so it ends, John thought. Finally, the end of his long road. If it hadn't been for his deep devotion to the Ives family and his promise to Vanessa to take care of her daughters as long as they needed it, John would have welcomed death with open arms. It would be his time. But it was not. Not while Dracula held sway over his charges.

"Final words?" Dracula whispered, his breath icy and sweet on John's face.

"Die, motherfucker."

A loud explosion sounded through the room and Dracula reeled back to face the person who shot him. Ethan stood, gun still raised, smoke coiling lazily from the barrel.

A curious thing happened then. As Dracula stood, resisting the urge to lunge forward and snap Ethan in half like a toothpick, his skin began to glow. Then brighter, brighter still until light burst through his skin, like sunlight through a cracked surface. Dracula threw his head back and stretched his arms out as if he was being crucified. Then, just as suddenly as the light had appeared beneath his skin, it dissipated, fading away like a sunset in rapid motion.

"Oh shit." Ethan groaned, suddenly not so glib and confident. He should have expected that the sun-hallowed bullet he had acquired from Alucard might not produce the desired effect. It was a shot in the dark, in more ways than one. Dracula was clearly far more indestructible than even his own son had anticipated. Unless of course... Alucard knew it wouldn't work all along?

He had no time to dwell on this as Dracula swept him up with a roar, crashing with him through the ceiling into the open night air and onto the flat, spacious rooftop of his urban manse. Ethan couldn't react in time as he was swung at with great force and sent flying backward, blood streaming from the deep gashes in his cheek and shoulder where Dracula's claws had raked.

He tried, he struggled, but the wolf was trapped deep within, blissfully asleep despite its threatened existence. Instead, he stood helpless, with no other actions available but running for his life, a hopeless fist fight or reloading his magnum. He opted for the latter, hastily digging through his ammo pouch. He knew it wouldn't kill the vampire lord, but it might just blow enough holes in him to wound him and hopefully buy himself a few more seconds of life.

Dracula wasn't playing around with him, this wasn't an idle threat anymore; he was fully intent on killing Ethan now whether Mina and her sisters approved or not, this he knew.

\---

John stumbled to his feet from where Dracula had dropped him, rubbing his hand over his bruised Adam's apple. He saw them then, Mina ascending, levitating up to join her lover on the rooftop, to observe, no doubt, the death of either her father or Dracula.

Amy and Alice remained, slinking forward in their creamy white silk nightgowns, every alluring move an insult to the women John had known them to be. Smiling as if in ecstasy, the two young women took deep breaths in unison, and blew. The dozens of candles in the room were snuffed instantly.

The room was plunged into darkness, John's eyes struggled to adjust to it helped only by the scant glow of approaching dawn pouring in from the ruined ceiling. Laughter surrounded him, voices so familiar to him, that once made him feel pride, love and a small sense of joy, the most he would ever have. Now these voices were alien to him; twisted, predatory, snarling at him like two tigers stalking around their circled prey.

He could practically feel the air tensing as they leapt at him, Alice first then Amy, taking turns attacking, sidestepped every time by John's swift reactions. Two pairs of glowing yellow eyes like embers teased hungrily from the blackness that surrounded him. Fangs gleamed as they inched close to his face and neck time and again.

A clang echoed then, like a small can falling onto the ground, and a bright light made John reach up and cover his eyes with one hand. From between his fingers, he could see Amy and Alice convulsing inside the glow, screaming and shrieking in pain as they shook helplessly. As the light faded, John saw them topple, both unconscious.

Something gusted past him, a shadowy figure faster than his eye could perceive jumped up through the ceiling in pursuit of Dracula, Ethan and Mina.

"Is...is anyone there?" A weak, nervous voice called out from the open bedroom door. "Vampire ladies? Please don't eat me. If you are still awake, please stay away. My blood is filled with poisonous chemicals, I'll have you know, so... so do not bite me. Alright?"

When he finally stumbled into John, Jekyll jumped and yelped.

\---

Alucard raced over the rooftops, determined to catch up to Dracula and Ethan, if the latter was even still alive. He sped past several scattered magnum hollow point bullets, probably knocked from Ethan's grasp before he could load them into his firearm. The single sun-hallowed bullet he had procured from Erisabith had not killed his father. He should have realized that the old witch wanted the Count alive, he wasn't surprised in the least at this revelation. At the most it had weakened him enough for a fair fight.

The sunlight spear grenade however, had been effective in subduing two of his brides, and he was somewhat grateful that he didn't have to kill them, if only for the reason that he had bigger fish to fry. If it had come down to it though, he would have killed them without hesitation. He wouldn't however waste the Essence stones on them, they were intended for his father and Mina, the real threat in this fucked up cauldron of craziness.

(Song Suggestion: Alpha Seed - Erra)

Alucard caught sight of them in the distance, Ethan being flung around like a ragdoll by the superior force. A mere human without his wolf to step in. He stood no chance. His crossbow unsheathed, Alucard readied the combat chain from its hilt as he glided effortlessly across rooftops and the jutting spires of an old gothic church.

He was too late, fast as he was, to stop Dracula from steering Ethan's broken, bloodied body right into the very sharp tip of a large cross that protruded from the rubble of another smaller church, laid to waste by the scuffle between them. Ethan roared in pain as the sharp metal pierced through his back and ripped through his stomach, skewering him in place. Unfortunate, Alucard thought as his feet connected with solid ground. Ethan might have made a worthy ally in the road ahead. Their entire conversation in the cave had just been rendered obsolete and unnecessary by his sealed fate. His heart was already slowing due to his mortal wound.

"Just you and me. Finally." He called his father out, the Count turning around leisurely to face his son, his nemesis.

"I have been waiting an eternity for this moment." Dracula grinned, then began twisting, the snapping sound of his bones as they rearranged themselves beneath his skin reached Alucard's ears where he stood.

Dracula was changing rapidly, his body growing in size, retaking his form of old, that of a monstrous humanoid bat. His lips curled back to reveal two elongated fangs, his arms stretched wide and his cape shifted and formed into the skin of his black sprawling wings and his claws grew even longer, like metallic razors fit to slice through flesh like butter. His knees snapped back to form bipedal legs. His ears cropped together, shifting higher on his head, becoming larger and triangular and his eyes and brow narrowed to express a constant rage.

"Right then." Alucard muttered under his breath. He raised his crossbow, and the long sharp chain whipped forward, cutting a wide swath over the bat's abdomen, which didn't heal as it usually would have. Blessed and dubbed 'Penance' by Abra Melin, it was the only real weapon against the Count that the mage had given to Alucard before unceremoniously pardoning him from his tutelage upon discovering Alucard himself ranked among the undead.

The bat roared in rage, closing the distance between them instantly, shrieking as another blow from the chain seared through his flesh and severed an ear. Fast as lightning, he swung at Alucard, denying him another hit. Alucard flew through the air, crashing into a nearby building and falling to the street below. He landed on his feet and aimed the chain at a neon SoHo sign and then retracted it to quickly guide himself up to higher ground once more.

As he landed, he narrowly dodge rolled under an airborne tackle from the large creature and whipped at it again, the chain wrapping around the bat's neck, making it jerk back violently at the end of the chain's reach, and it spun back toward where Alucard grappled it. It took a while to regain its hold on the situation, but not before Alucard smashed and crashed it into a variety of surfaces a couple of times just as it had done to Ethan. It spun free of the chain finally, twisting itself around and loose, flapping its large wings to gain height and a reprieve from the pesky chain. Alucard aimed and fired around 20 bolts before realizing the creature had distance to its advantage, dodging the shots effortlessly, predicting the flying bolts as they were fired.

"Don't make me come up there, pussy!"

It laughed then, its voice an inhuman rumble, its words echoing in Alucard's head, daring him to fight it on equal terms, in his true form. Alucard answered by jumping up to his height and taking yet another swing with the chain. He miscalculated. Stupid move. Stupid. Hasty. The bat lunged forward in the air and tackled him, the crossbow flying from his grasp and down to the street, breaking into pieces against the hard tar as gravity did its worst.

It took Alucard an instant to regain his composure and then it happened; he took his true form, the form he hadn't assumed in decades. By the time he touched down on solid ground on a nearby rooftop, he was a cat. Not precisely a cat, but large, like Dracula was now, perched on his bipedal hind legs, claws elongated and sharp, whiskers framing a pink snout and the soft black fur lining his lips, as it did everything else. His long tail flicked back and forth in anticipation and his pointy ears turned to hone in on the sound of wings cutting through the air. He growled and snarled at the night sky, challenging his father to come down and get some.

His challenge was accepted a moment later, as he was harassed by a flurry of bats followed by a sucker punch that sent him into the air, then another that flung him impossibly far and right through one of the windows of the Shard. Once again, he landed on his feet, as he always did, spinning back around and hurried to the entry point, ignoring the screaming female psychiatrist who had come in for work far too early. He peered outside, spying the large bat drifting steadily closer and snarled viciously before leaping towards Dracula, colliding with him in mid-air, but got punched backward once more. He didn't crash through another window, instead realigning his body with grace only he possessed, his paws landing vertically on the glass, claws hooking through it for purchase.

Dracula was high above and rising higher, taunting him, beckoning him to the upper reaches. He knew it was a trap despite the feral instincts that now ran amuck with his reason, yet he couldn't resist the bait. The sun would peer over the horizon within a handful of minutes and then they would both have to retreat, their powers severely weakened. He refused to lose the opportunity to finish this fight once and for all.

With perfect timed forward leaps, Alucard began the long clamber up the Shard's glass walls.

\---

"I have somewhere safe where we can hold them until Alucard fixes all of this." Jekyll drove them through the streets toward his lab, peering in the rearview mirror at John on the back seat, the sleeping Alice and Amy's heads resting on his shoulders. He nodded, meeting the jumpy doctor's gaze.

"You are her son, are you not?" John asked finally, breaking the silence between them.

"I'm nothing like my mother. Neither are you, Uncle." Jekyll said with conviction.

The moment between them was interrupted in an instant as something crashed down onto the car hood, stopping it in its tracks and wrecking it. Jekyll's eyes grew wide upon seeing the furious face of the black haired vampire outcast that had dived down onto the car. She stood up and hopped off, ripping the car door off and plucking Jekyll out of the driver's seat.

"Where do you think you're going, little guy? Stay, play with me." She tossed him aside, face first into a metal dumpster, the defenseless doctor going limp on impact.

"Caliiiiiiibaaaaaaaan." She teased and approached the car as John stepped out, leaving Alice and Amy in the back seat, both still unconscious.

"He does not want me. Do you have any idea what that feels like? After all these years, he just ordered me to leave!" She laughed and cried and laughed and John wasn't sure if she was altogether sane anymore, a mere shadow of the proud woman he knew back when Dracula turned her. John had witnessed her rise and fall, and he didn't wish to harm her.

"Have your vengeance upon him, but leave us be." He calmly attempted to placate the distraught woman.

"My vengeance upon him will be the death of his brides." Her eyes flashed between the tears, smiling and seething altogether. Lucy was no more, he realized. They were friends once, lifetimes ago.

She took another step toward the car, and his fist promptly went into her face and exited through the back of her head, along with some of her brain matter.

"Forgive me Lucy, but I cannot allow that." He said sadly, pulling his gore-covered fist back, her lifeless corpse collapsing without his invasive support.

Jekyll groaned and managed to raise his concussed head, looking up at his long lost relative. He had never seen such lifelessness in any face before in his entire life.

\---

(Song Suggestion: Eva - Ill Nino)

She kept her distance, levitating just out of sight, watching as the two beasts fought an endless battle. Ethan, her insurgent father, had already paid with blood for his rebellion. She had pulled him from where he had been impaled on the cross and had laid him down gently, healing his mortal wounds with her blood. Her final act of love for him.

She didn't intervene any further, only observing silently.

The large cat was now running up against the side surface of the Shard, every touch of its large paws against the glass as sure as the last, carrying it forward - and toward where her love was waiting at the top - with incredible speed.

Once it reached the summit, it collided with Dracula once more, the two of them battling as they tumbled and skidded over the slippery steep surface close to the tip. It went on seemingly forever, until Dracula finally gained the upper hand, holding the large cat down and tearing it's throat out as claws hooked into his beautiful black wings, tearing through them like curtains.

The cat gurgled weakly, tearing flesh from Dracula with every swipe, but the great bat hardly flinched, merely picking the struggling feline up in a clawed hand and laying a severe beating upon it until it could barely move. Then, casually, he raised the cat above him and tossed it over the steep edge, the lifeless body of the monstrous feline sliding down until it was falling, falling fast and limp, the wind whipping its ears and tail violently as it went. The people below hardly noticed until its the limp body crashed down on the sidewalk with incredible force, creating a large crater at the impact point and sending the few nearby pedestrians that weren't instantly crushed flying.

The majority of people were screaming, running, but some were brave enough to approach the creature that lay lifeless in the cracked cement. The sun finally peered over the edge of visible earth and Mina flinched at its sting. She quickly made her way toward where Dracula had made his way, shifting back to his human form, stumbling forward with fatigue and his wounds, the sun hardly helping to ease his pain.

"It is done, my love. We have triumphed." He whispered to her when she took her place by his side, leaning down to support his weight. "The sun... hurts. Help me, take us home."

She smiled lovingly and wrapped him in a tight embrace, their bodies melting into a large flurry of bats that remained in the shadows as they made their way back to Carfax Heights.


	10. Geen Omdraai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethan rushes to save Alucard while John and Jekyll find common ground. Mina reaches the point of no return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive the shameless meta in-joke. I just can't help myself.

He didn't have to look very hard to find Alucard. In truth, it was easy, he just had to follow the trail of destruction left behind by the two vampires. He had woken up next to the cross that he was sure had breached his flesh. He could still feel the ghosting pain from where it had impaled him, yet there were no wounds on his stomach or his back.

His last memory was of Alucard, of him changing into the very large cat creature and charging at the equally large bat creature Dracula had become. After that, it was all a blur. He may or may not have imagined Mina's scent, very faint, hardly there anymore. He was almost certain that she had saved him.

He arrived on the scene in time to witness the large cat plummeting from the Shard helplessly, and had rushed towards the crater where it had touched down. The street was in chaos, people were running in all directions, some bumping into him, wide eyed and terrified, then pushing past him, desperate to get as far away from the impact site as possible.

Motionless he lay there, the youthful vampire once more, broken and naked, covered in his own blood. He seemed so vulnerable now, Ethan thought, a far cry from the proud, formidable being he had met mere hours ago.

When Ethan picked him up in his arms he realized he was still bleeding out. Alucard raised his hand and managed to point him in the direction of a hotel not far from where they were.

They were through the front door of the hotel 5 minutes later, Alucard having again lost consciousness. Ethan knew what this place was, he had had dealings with them on several of his cases during his stint as a SOCO in the 80's. They were a supernatural-friendly establishment that catered to most of their clients' needs, no matter how depraved or odd.

Ginofev, a tiny, bookish Russian dwarf in his late 40's and the owner of the hotel, appeared almost instantly around the corner to greet his new guests, but his smile quickly turned upside down when he saw Alucard.

"Oh no. Nononono. No good. Vampire nothing but trouble."

"He's dying, please! I need to tend to him immediately. We just need a few hours, and you know I'll pay you back when I'm able."

"You see suite? Beautiful suite no more! Destroyed!" Ginofev was attempting to emulate anger but instead just seemed like he was scolding a dog. Ethan wondered if it was because of what he was that he was being treated as such.

"Trouble, nothing but trouble! Bad vampires. No like!"

"You ever heard of the Ives sisters?" Ethan played his full hand, deciding that intimidation would work better than charm to get them to safety faster.

"Or Dracula? I'm sure you've heard of him too. Now what's worse than one or the other?"

"Dracula?! Ives briiiides?!" Ginofev began ranting in Russian, pacing back and forth.

"This vampire is the only thing standing in their way. So either you start preparing that apocalypse discount sign or you pull your head out of your goddamn ass and fucking help us!"

Ginofev tilted his head slightly to the left and made a long thoughtful sound as his eyes narrowed.

"You get cheap room. You destroy, no sad. Come, come." He led them to a small back room on the first floor. It wasn't cheap by any measure Ethan had ever seen, despite the size. Everything from the cupboards, to the bedside lamps, to the windows hangings were vintage and Ethan felt like they were walking back in time to when he first came to London. Nostalgia tickled the back of his throat and made him swallow uneasily.

"Cheap room. Enjoy your stay." The dwarf said the last words with an impressive English accent that had obviously been rehearsed countless times for customers and slammed the door shut behind him, leaving them alone.

Ethan carried Alucard to the bed, placing him down gently. The large gaping wound in his throat wasn't healing, and Ethan wondered how much blood he could spill before his body finally gave out.

"Hey, hey." He nudged Alucard, who remained motionless. "You can't check out yet. They're still out there. He's still out there. You just gonna lay there and let him get what he wants? Are you?"

Still not getting a response, Ethan realized what needed to be done, what the vampire needed to heal.

"Just so you know, I wouldn't be doing this if there was any other way." He said as he leaned down, baring his neck just inches above Alucard's mouth. He heard a sniff, and felt the fangs pierce his flesh. A cold hand gripped the back of his neck, forcing him closer and lips latched over his skin. 

It didn't hurt half as badly as he had thought it would. Instead, it felt like something akin to sex. Whether this was the norm for a vampire bite or the fact that Ethan was inexplicably attracted to him, he didn't care. All that mattered at that moment was despite the blood that was flowing from his body into Alucard's, some of it still managed to give him one hell of an erection.

\---

It took John a split second to realize that he was walking into the laboratory that once belonged to his creator, Victor Frankenstein. Now, it was repurposed and spruced up with modern technology, though at its heart, it still had the same character it had always possessed. It was still more of a dungeon than a lab.

"They'll wake up soon. I should not have to remind you how extremely unpleasant that would be for us." Jekyll said, opening the sliding doors of a large glass cube that sat in the middle of the lab with the press of a button. He turned to John and flung Amy's arm around his neck in an attempt to carry her, but realized his skinny frame was too weak.

"Help me with them?"

John nodded, carrying the two young women in each of his arms into the cube, wary of being betrayed and sealed in along with them. He was surprised when no such betrayal happened. He laid Alice and Amy down gently on the solid floor, moved back outside and watched as Jekyll sealed the door with a simple input on a nearby console.

"What is this contraption?" John asked, testing the glass with a few raps of his knuckles.

"A glorified cage. The Illuminati has acquired a whole lot of nifty oddities throughout the decades. Thankfully not all of them are purposed towards the workings of evil." Jekyll stood next to him now, arms crossed as they watched the motionless sleep of Dracula's brides.

"It will hold them?"

"Indefinitely."

They stood silently for a while before Jekyll turned to John, his hand reached out to him.

"We haven't been properly introduced, Uncle. My name is..."

"I know who you are, Edward Hyde." John remained immobile, his hands in his pockets.

"Henry Jekyll, actually. Edward Hyde is, well, a very bad person."

"I had no idea you suffer from schizophrenia. So it is true then? You and Lily..." John decided to be straight forward, making it clear he knew that they weren't the good guys.

"It's not what you think, Uncle. I am not what you think."

"She has not changed. Her working for the enemy of humanity just reinforces this fact. And you, with her..." John shuddered and attempted to clear the thoughts of Lily and her son's incestuous relationship from his mind. He wished now he had never come upon this knowledge.

"That part... Edward... is beyond my control, you must know this. The Frankenstein syndrome is a terrible evil, a corruption that consumes all that is good, that is decent. It takes an extraordinary amount of nurture and self-discovery to even reclaim a shadow of your own mortality, and even then it is exceptionally hard to maintain once it has been rediscovered."

He paused briefly, his face lighting up and a smile spreading across his lips as he continued.

"With Alucard's help, I have managed to separate that evil from myself, he has saved me. He is truly an amazing force, not to mention the sex is..." He stopped himself, his cheeks filling with an intense blush of embarrassment at his admission. "Oh dear..." He giggled under his breath.

"You love him, do you?" John asked, his body relaxing slightly, feeling a bit more at ease with his 'nephew'.

"I do, Uncle. I do! But he does not love me." Jekyll's smile was sad and John couldn't help but feel empathy for the scrawny scientist.

"And you accept that?"

"Being in his presence is a gift all in itself. Who am I to expect more?"

This caught John off guard, having not expected such selfless love from anyone in alliance with the Illuminati. It also made him realize something important.

"What's the matter?" Jekyll noticed his pensive silence.

"It appears we have more in common than I had initially assumed. I had misconceptions of you. For that I apologize."

Jekyll loved Alucard, though he could never be loved back. John once too loved someone selflessly. Vanessa. He too had been perfectly at peace with the fact that the love would always be one-sided.

"I hope that, someday, you and I may have the chance to discuss our common ground, Uncle."

Just a child, John realized. A man-child in love for the first time. An adult who hadn't known anything but his mother and Alucard. John would never truly consider him kin, but he decided then that he wouldn't refuse him the right to call him 'Uncle'. If such a small thing could make him happy, then why deny him that?

"Perhaps, Henry. Someday." He managed a small, sincere smile, but this rapidly faded away when he noticed that their captives were waking up.

Muffled by the glass, the screams and hisses still echoed off the laboratory walls, and John desperately wished he had a bottle of scotch to drown out those terrible sounds.

\---

(Song Suggestion: Let Her Go - Within Temptation)

What little he hadn't known about Ethan made itself known to him in vivid detail as he was healing. His love for Vanessa and their shared bond was laid bare as if he had lived it himself. The moment he abandoned her, when he found her again. The moment he realized that he was going to be a father. The moment his daughter was stolen from him in the dead of night. The moment she was returned, empty of what made her his daughter. And her voice, calling to him, leading him away from the only thing he had left.

He experienced every evil done in Hecate's name, felt his jaws crush the life out of Amy. Felt the second loss of his daughter, a somewhat deeper, more acute grief than the first due to his part in it. His guilt. To this day, it weighed on him. So heavy. Unnaturally heavy. 

Alucard blinked. He never blinked.

\---

"You're welcome." Ethan muttered when he noticed Alucard stirring as he awoke, his body completely healed. He made a note not to look at that pale, slender, still naked body. He rubbed over the pierced, red skin of his neck and winced at the dull ache.

"You'll live." Alucard cracked his neck from side to side, completely unashamed of his nudity.

"Damn straight. As long as it takes to see you win this thing. As long as it takes to see my daughters safe." He still didn't look at Alucard, and was relieved when he heard him get up and grab the clothes that Ethan had asked Ginofev for. 

"Are you always this dramatic?" He asked as he dressed himself in the black V-neck and jeans. Ethan hoped it would be to his taste, and was relieved when he saw an approving look from him as he brushed his hands over the shirt to smooth it over his torso. 

"These are the days of our lives." Ethan joked, despite the urgency of getting a move on. He got up from the bed and found himself still admiring the other man while he was shrugging into his jeans, watching his firm buttocks disappearing beneath the material.

"Bit more of a Dark Shadows vibe going on, actually, but cute. Real cute." Alucard turned around, zipping himself up.

"The film? God, it was terrible. I was rooting for the evil witch woman the entire time. Don't exactly know why, though." Her face and voice had been so familiar; he just couldn't place it.

"Uh no, I was referring to the series slash soap opera, not that I would ever watch that bullshit. Nothing romantic about being a blood sucking demon." He was busy with the belt now, slipping it through the loops.

"Right."

"Well... it seems I'm in your debt." He sighed, clearly not in love with the idea.

"Not really, but if you insist, I'm sure we could work something out." He had meant it as a joke, but Alucard wasn't laughing and he realized a little too late how suggestive it had sounded.

With one swift move, Alucard extended one of his claws, lifted his shirt over his abs and cut a broad stroke into his stomach.

"What the fuck?!" Ethan gasped, horrified at the self-mutilation.

"Shut up." Alucard muttered and promptly pressed his hand into the wound, rummaged around for 5 excruciating seconds and finally pulled out two glowing yellow stones. The wound begun healing as he dropped the shirt back down over it.

"Debt repaid." He presented one of the stones to Ethan while pocketing the other.

"What is this thing?" Ethan marveled as he took it in his hand, feeling a soft warmth emanating from it.

"The choice you never had. You want to be a real boy again; all you need to do is wish upon a... stone."

Ethan laughed, but looked up into deathly serious eyes. He was not joking. A world of possibility flashed before Ethan's eyes. A world where he and his girls could retire from the world of magic and darkness and live like normal people, out in the country, far away from anything that would ever want to hurt them. They could be free, if only he could save them from themselves and from Dracula.

"Or you could use it to break the blood curse and be the big bad wolf again. Or don't use it at all, I really don't care, this makes us even."

Alucard was at the door before Ethan could say another word or ask him how the stone worked. Wish upon it? It just couldn't be that simple.

"I'll be seeing you around, I'm sure." The handsome vamp smiled at him, though his words were heavy with bad omen.

It took Ethan a second to conclude that his daughters didn't need a normal father, a normal family away from the dangers of the world. It just wasn't meant to be. What they needed was the strength to fight. They needed magic and darkness. They needed him. They needed the Great White Wolf.

He looked at the stone, wishing himself free from the curse, wishing the wolf free. He barely noticed when Ginovef peered around the open door, scanning the room with wide eyes.

"No destroy? Why suite but not cheap room? Prefer werewolf. Vampires... oy." He grinned as Ethan rose from the bed and shed his shirt.

"I'm no ordinary werewolf, my friend."

He felt himself go, letting loose the animal that had been asleep for far too long and for the first time, he fully embraced it. The wolf in turn, fully embraced him as it grew, it's size too large to be contained in the room. The ceiling gave way for his arching back and the walls collapsed to make room for his paws.

Ginofev palmed his face and sighed loudly.

"Oy..."

\---

Mina walked into the crowd of captives, blood dripping from the dozen or so cuts on her nude body onto the rocky floor of the cave as she walked. The people recoiled from her in fear, making her path forward very simple.

"Why are you doing this to us? What do you want? Please help us! Free us! Let us out!" The voices came from the brave few ones in the crowd who weren't as scared of her as they ought to be.

"You realize of course that this is the point of no return. Once we do this, it's etched in stone. It can't be taken back." Mina turned her eyes to the origin of the voice and saw Monica walking beside her, holding her hand.

"I know." She answered as they strolled leisurely toward the middle of the large group of abductees.

"It feels right, doesn't it?"

"Like coming home."

They were together at the end, just as they were at the beginning, just as they would always and forever be.

"Remember when we were little, when we were afraid of the shadows, of the dark, but at the same time we just couldn't seem to stay away from them? Maybe it was the other way around." Monica said as they reached the middle.

"Maybe the dark was afraid of us."

"Fear. This world hasn't known real fear." Mina said angrily as they stopped, turning to Monica as she too turned to face herself.

"But it will."

They let go of what little light and goodness remained within them, succumbing fully to the darkness that Dracula had awoken in them.

Hundreds of blood tendrils shot out from the cuts, impaling, engulfing, merging with the hundreds of helpless people who screamed in agony as they were devoured, sinew, blood and bone all broken into pulpy masses and absorbed by the thin, bloody arms sent out by Dracula's beloved.

It took mere minutes for the entire mass of people to be consumed into her, the cave empty of all but the woman. A single enormous black wing like a bat's tore through her left shoulder and wrapped itself around her as she stood motionless, ascending in body, mind and spirit.

Moments later, Dracula was there, kneeling before her, kissing her bloody feet.

"My queen." He whispered where he knelt, unable to contain his joy at his plan for Mina finally having come to fruition.

"We have an appointment with God." He looked up at her, and the wing retracted from around her. She was unchanged, yet in every way possible she was. Her hair, her skin, her eyes... She possessed a cosmic, ethereal beauty unlike anything ever to have graced the eyes of man. 

Her hand reached for his face and closed over his neck in a vice, lifting him effortlessly into the air and holding him helpless in her grasp.

"Arrogant, spoilt child thinking himself worthy of godhood. I shall bring you pain. I shall bring you horror. I serve none."

In her hand, he became the dark matter he had been to begin with and reshaped into a hermatite crystal. The once powerful Count had met the same fate as his fallen brother.

"All will serve me."

Unparalleled power coursed through her every pore, the power of a god, of an evil unmatched by Lucifer himself. Yet somehow, there was something missing. Two gaping voids within her, two disruptions in her omniscience.

"I am incomplete." She observed, and she set out in search of the ones she once called sisters.


	11. Onvolledig

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mina seeks her sisters and Ethan meets up with Jekyll and John at the lab.

She was lost, shivering in fear as she clung to Mr. Wiggles, her teddy bear. Only 6 years old, Hope had become separated from her mother in the early hours of the morning.

Her mother and father had been fighting. She had woken up at 5am to the sound of angry screams. Her daddy had come home drunk again, like every other night and her mummy had finally decided enough was enough.

They hadn't even packed, her mummy lifting her into her arms and bolting for the front door. It had still been dark outside and chilly. She hadn't even had time to put on her Scooby-Doo jacket, holding Mr. Wiggles close for warmth and nuzzling her face into her mummy's frizzy blond hair.

There had been a loud crash next to them and Hope had only glimpsed the woman on the car's hood before her mummy dropped her and screamed, running off in fear as the bad lady tossed someone right into a rubbish bin across the street. 

Hope had seen a big man punch the lady and she fell down without her face. Then she saw the man and another hurrying down the street, the big man who punched the lady carrying two other ladies in their nightgowns. Hope had followed them for a while as she searched for her mummy, since they were going in the same direction as she had. She had seen them taking a right and going down a quiet street.

Now, 2 hours later, she was still walking, trying to find her way, trying to find her mummy. Hope saw someone that she thought was her, but when the lady turned around, Hope saw that she wasn't wearing any clothes. The lady looked down at her, tilting her head curiously. 

"You're so pretty! Are you an angel?" Hope smiled at the blond lady, feeling so happy to find someone who would talk to her. Maybe the lady would help her find her mummy.

"Have you seen my mummy? I lost my mummy."

The lady stood staring wide eyed, then she smiled in a way that scared Hope. She didn't like the lady anymore.

"Bleat no longer, little one. Give me your past."

The lady cut her throat with one sharp nail and she bled like Hope's mummy had bled many times before, but this blood moved. It moved toward Hope and it grabbed her.

It only hurt for a little while, then Hope didn't feel anything. She never would again. 

\---

"You are one tough sonofabitch to track by scent." Ethan wrapped John in a tight, brotherly hug. It had taken him 2 full hours to find the lab, and John. He had started his search at Carfax Heights and having found no trace of Alice and Amy had assumed correctly that the grenade had worked and that John and Jekyll had taken them to safety.

"Where are they?" He asked hopefully.

"They're... safe." John managed a small smile as Jekyll joined them.

"Glad to see you have made it in one piece, Mr. Chandler."

"Barely, but thanks. I never did catch your name."

"Henry. Henry Jekyll." They shook hands. "My evil alter ego is Edward Hyde. He works for the Illuminati. Also, I am the son of Lilly Frankenstein, formerly known as Brona Croft."

John wished that the ground could open beneath him and swallow him whole. The man-child had no filter whatsoever.

"What?" Ethan stuttered, taken aback by the frank declaration as much as its content.

"I uncomplicated... it." Jekyll slowly realized that he had said a little too much, too soon, too casually.

"Perhaps you should go and see to our guests, Henry." John smiled at him but his eyes spoke volumes.

"Right, okay." He nodded, understanding the discomfort in the room and turning around to head downstairs. Once he was out of earshot, Ethan asked the burning question, not sure how he was feeling about it.

"Brona is alive?"

"Am I alive?" John argued. "The man I am is a far cry from the man that I was. The same applies to her. Part of her remembers you, but she is not the woman you loved or your friend. She is working for the Illuminati. Do you realize what that means?"

"Enemy of mankind and all that. Got it."

"And she will cut you down in the blink of an eye. There is nothing left of the woman you once cared for."

"You sure?"

"I am."

Ethan mulled it over for a while, then came to a conclusion.

"Well if she stays out of our way, we’ll stay out of hers."

"Agreed."

Something else came to Ethan's mind, a more pressing matter.

"Are the girls still... like that?"

John nodded, pursing his lips together.

"I don't think I'm ready to see them yet." He couldn't stand to see the monstrous entities that wore the skins of his girls.

"You might want to see them while you still can." Alucard said from the shadows of the doorway, startling Ethan.

"Is it just you, or do all vampires pop up out of nowhere?" he groaned.

"What's the matter, Ethan? Did I scare you?" Alucard said with a devilish grin.

"Me? Never. What do you mean by, while I still can?"

The handsome vampire stepped into the room, ever nonchalant.

"Good news, boys. Dracula is no more."

"And the bad news?" John asked wearily.

"Mina is looking for her sisters."

This news however inspired hope instead of worry in Ethan.

"Well good, we can subdue her and seal her in with them while we..."

"Oh no, you don't get it." Alucard interrupted. "She's different. A whole lot different, and she's not looking for a happy family reunion."

His hope faded, replaced by confusion and disbelief.

"She wants to hurt them?"

Ethan could never believe for a second that Mina could be capable of hurting her sisters. They were her family; they were all she had.

"She wants to consume them."

"She has ascended then?" John asked, clearly as familiar with Alucard as he was with Ethan, and Alucard nodded in reply.

A loud cry from the laboratory interrupted their conversation and they all ran downstairs toward the origin of the noise. Jekyll was convulsing, foamy green fluid flowing freely from his mouth as his body twisted and jumped where he lay on the ground.

When the convulsion ended, Ethan turned away from where Alice and Amy had their faces pressed against the glass, staring at him intently with such malice in their eyes and smiles that curdled his blood. He couldn't bear to see what they had become. He turned his back and faced the corner of the large room while John kneeled next to Jekyll where he lay still as death.

"Careful, John." Alucard warned a little too late as Jekyll's eyes flew open. But Henry Jekyll wasn’t behind those eyes anymore.

"Uncle! Marvelous! Mother has been looking everywhere for you." He grinned and stood up, wiping the trail of green slime from his mouth with his shirt sleeve before noticing the vampire.

"And you... You shot me up with bad juice, you are going to be in so much trouble when she finds out."

"Such a Mama's boy." Alucard rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Shut up, traitor! Do your new friends know that you're working for us?"

Ethan turned back around at this revelation, eyes fixing on Alucard in puzzlement.

"I work for nobody but myself. Not my fault you and your mother were so dense as to think otherwise." Alucard quipped, shrugging Ethan's look off.

"You and them?" Ethan asked, unable to hide the accusation in his tone.

"You're surprised?"

"Not really."

But he was. Despite knowing Alucard couldn't be fully trusted, the knowledge of his double agency still shook him.

"Excuse me, just a sec. Got to make a call home." Hyde said, taking out his mobile phone without a care in the world and begun dialing.

"And there's the evil genius." Alucard sassed as John slammed his forehead into Hyde's, rendering him unconscious, the phone falling from his grip. "He never did have a terribly high IQ." Alucard sighed as John held the evil scientist upright.

"What should we do with him?" Ethan asked, still averting his eyes from where the girls were now giggling menacingly, their teeth bared at him like hungry sharks.

"Allow me to take him somewhere safe, please?" John requested softly.

"You sure about that?" Ethan asked.

"He's just a child, Ethan. A child born with bad blood."

Ethan looked at the girls, seeing past the evil to what they were, what they could be again. They were just tainted, as was the man in John's arms.

"Be careful." He said, patting John's shoulder. He followed them up but decided to stay in the apartment, acutely aware that Alucard hadn't left either.

"Alone again." The vampire said, his voice empty of emotion.

"You should have told me." Ethan answered, not bothering to hide the disappointment he felt.

"I should have nothing. In case we weren't clear, I play by my rules, I do what I want, that includes saying or not saying whatever I do or do not want to. I do not make friends; I do not strive to appease anyone. If this doesn't appeal to you, deal with it." It was recited as if out of a rule book.

"If you don't care, why are you here?"

"My interests are my own."

"Which are?"

"Look, I didn't come here for small talk. I came here to give you a heads up, that's it." A hint of irritation finally reared its head.

"But why? If you don't care what happens to us, why warn us?"

"Like I said, my interests are my own." Alucard began walking towards the door.

"I don't buy it."

Alucard stopped in his tracks for a moment at the exit of the door.

"I'm not selling it."

Then he was gone, and Ethan felt as if he had been punched in the gut.

\---

John didn't get very far with Hyde in his arms before he was shot with a tranquilizer dart, dropping the scientist as his knees gave way. Before he drifted off, he saw the Rolls Royce stop in front of him and the doors open. Then he was lost to oblivion.

\---

Ethan lit a cigarette and hummed 'Don't fear the reaper.' Appropriate for the situation since he was shit-scared of the very present threat of death that had been looming over his family for the last couple of days.

The shrieks from downstairs had stopped, thankfully, but ever so often a low giggle would drift up to where he sat at the table of the small apartment and travel down his spine, making him shift around uncomfortably to shake the feeling.

He attempted to clear his mind, and when that failed he filled it with thoughts of the first thing that came to him, Alucard. Why was he so bothered by him? Was it the same effect Dracula had had over the girls? Was it all just compulsion and pheromone overload? Or was it real? He could swear that he had seen a glint of attraction in the vampires’ eyes, if only for a second and very well hidden.

But Ethan was an expert at reading people.

He took a drag from the cigarette and it fell from his lips when the door flew off its hinges, a thick wooden splinter grazing his cheek as it traveled through the air. He jumped up from his chair and prepared to unleash the wolf inside when he saw her.

His daughter stood naked before him, more beautiful than ever, yet it took him a moment to realize that this person, this... creature was not Mina. If she was still inside somewhere, she was buried so deep that any chance of getting her back seemed less likely than snow in summer.

"You were the father." She observed, staring at him as if he were a crack in her favorite mirror.

"Mina..." He had nothing left, no hope, no fight. He was defeated. How could he fight her, how could he stop her without killing her? The simple answer was that he couldn't.

"I am the mother and the father." She proclaimed, and lifted a finger.

Ethan's upper body bent back 180 degrees, snapping his spine in half. He tumbled back, losing his footing and roared in pain. He was used to bones breaking; they broke during every shift but they had never broken at this angle, in this manner. It would take minutes to heal, if not longer.

Some of the blood from where his abdomen had torn open had sprayed onto Mina's face, and it absorbed into her skin. Her eyes glazed over and she gave a tiny gasp.

"Such power. I shall return for you once I am complete." She smiled, stepping over his broken, twisted body and heading downstairs to where her sisters were waiting anxiously for her, feeling her draw near.

"Mina... Don't..." Ethan managed to plead between his pained groans, but his words were futile.

She reached the glass cage, shattering it with her will, thousands of micro-shards floating in the air like crystal particles. Alice and Amy fell to their knees before her, arms outstretched and smiling, knowing that they were about to become part of something much bigger than themselves.

Claw extended, she reached to cut her throat, but behind her, from atop the stairs, words froze her in place.

"Ast mortem sahem behliet. Goht belem nat mitra matrum."

Mina shrieked, rage, fear and frustration all reverberating and making the laboratory shake and chunks of the ceiling fall down. Her wing tore from her shoulder and extended, carrying her forward and out through the back wall, taking half of the laboratory along with her.

Erisabith looked upon Amy and Alice, their fury returning but instantly subsiding as she pointed toward them, index and ring fingers raised in each hand.

Between life and death they were and their souls remained intact. For a witch such as her, it was practically Christmas.

\---

(Song Suggestion: Evil Ways - Blues Saraceno)

The entity who had been Mina Ives took the Draconian crystal into herself, a bloody tendril that extended from her chest wrapped around it and absorbed it easily, granting her the power she needed to do what needed to be done.

She would be complete.

Walking through the street, her naked form caught the eye of every person that had the misfortune of looking in her general direction. And the moment they saw her, they were enraptured. Their lives meant something. Life itself meant something. Now that she was among them, everything made sense.

They followed her mindlessly, utterly smitten as she walked to the place where her mortal self had first entered London. Piccadilly Circus was a perfect place for her to trigger Convergence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For fans of Dead Space, you know what's coming...


End file.
